Code: Digimon
by TheSealer
Summary: Sequel to 'XANA's craziest plan ever'. Aelita learns that XANA is hidding in the Digital World. The Digidestined and the Lyoko Warriors team up to stop this threath. Kenyako Takari Koumi DavisxNat-chan JxA YxU Humor, drama, tragedy, mistery and adventure
1. Ep 1 XANA's New Territory PART I

**Chapter 1: XANA's new territory**

** This takes place on at the final of Season 2 of Digimon and after my fict '**_**XANA's craziest plan ever!**_**'. And, you better read it! Believe you will laugh your asses off.**

_At the Computer Lab_

Aelita was typing on the SuperComputer, searching for Replikas. So far, she had found several copies of Lyoko's sectors, all of them scattered around the world. The princess ceased her search and began to try find a way to get Jeremie out of XANA's clutches.

"Oh…Jeremie." she moaned, sadly. It had been three months since Jeremie was possessed by XANA and went to the Network. Aelita had taken the full time job of genius of the group. She was smart, but not super smart like Jeremie. Nevertheless, they could still face XANA, since William was back.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The sound of the Super Scan didn't go unnoticed. Aelita eyes went wide, for the Scan didn't detect an activated Tower. It had actually detected strange activity from the Replikas:

"XANA, what are you up to, now? Hey, what…?" the Scan showed the last thing Aelita had ever expected from XANA. "I don't believe this!"

The pinkette quickly dialed the numbers of her friends, calling them to the factory.

_Meanwhile, in Japan_

"You're wondering why I called you here, aren't you?" said Izzy, glaring at the Junior digidestined and their digimon, on his bedroom.

"Because you want to show us your new computer program?" asked Davis, gaining an annoyed glare from the red-head computer pro.

"Davis!" the other digidestined reprehended.

"No. I called you here because I was watching the Digital World on my computer and detected an area marked with Control Spires." he said simply.

"But, we demolished the last Spires weeks ago. The map showed nothing but white areas." retorted Ken, half-incredulous half-angry for the creations of his past were back.

"Yeah, but I just checked the map and one single area was black."

"Then, should we go to check it out?" asked Cody.

"Well, yeah! That's why we're the digidestined!" Davis stood up, whit his D-3 on his hand.

"Davis, stop been a hot-head just for a minute, OK?" asked Yolei.

"If he did that, then he wouldn't be the Davis we know." said Poromon.

"Lesson guys, I think it's not a big deal, but you should go and inspect that, just in case." said Izzy.

"Wow! Izzy just agreed with Davis. Who knew?" joked TK. Everybody laughed at that. Unbeknownst to the laughing heroes, the Eye of XANA appeared on Izzy's screen, before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

_Back in the Lab_

"What, XANA has deleted ALL of his Replikas? Why?" questioned Yumi, puzzled. The Lyoko Warriors were all gathered at the Lab and Aelita had just told them what she learned.

"I don't know. But, I also found out that XANA is now hiding in a specific Replika." the leader of the Lyoko Warriors spoke.

"Hold on, princess. I thought you said XANA had erased all of his Replikas." said Odd.

"And he did. The Replika where he is living is not of his own creation. Plus, I don't think we can even call it a _Replika_, because it's not a copy of any of Lyoko Sectors." clarified Aelita.

"If it's not a Replika, than what it is?" asked William.

"It's a totally different virtual world, created by someone else than my father." Aelita sighed. There was a momentary silence, which Ulrich broke:

"Than, should we go to that Replika, to check it out?"

"Yes, I've been preparing the Skid for all of us." the pinkette girl said, setting up a timed virtualization.

"Wait, you're coming with us? Who'll manage the SuperComputer?" asked Yumi, an eyebrow quirked.

"Me. I just made an upgrade on my Lyoko Avatar. I can command most of the SuperComputer's functions from there." Aelita responded, descending to the Scanner Room, with the others.

_On the Digital World_

The group of 02 Digidestined had spread out, to locate the Control Spires. So far, no luck. Curiously, it was the same area in which Tentomon had discovered the Base of the Digimon Emperor. In fact, Kari and Nefertimon were flying above towards the mountain-crater where the Base was first found.

Kari made a disturbed sound, which caught Nefertimon's attention:

"What is it, Kari?" asked the armor-digivolved digimon.

"It's the Control Spires, again. They were all MaloMyotismon's doing. I have a feeling that he might be back."

"I don't think he is back, Kari. I livedwith Myotismon for many years to feel is presence. He is gone for good, I'm positive." the digimon partner assured. Kari just nodded, still a bit uncertainty.

The girls got to the top of the mountain, where they could see the crater. When they gazed at the bottom, they were overwhelmed.

Down there, three Control Spires were standing. Plus, the said towers had a red aura surrounding each one of them. To join the strange scenario, a humanoid figure was looking at the towers, their arms raised horizontally and most strangely, they were floating in mid air.

"Don't tell me we have to deal with a new Digimon Emperor." Gatomon mumbled.

"Are those digimon?" the human partner asked.

"No, I never saw anything like those." replied the cat digimon. Along with the human, there were several different types of creatures. Some seemed like red and giant crabs, with only 4 legs, no pincers and three eyes. Others were seemed giant white spider whit 4 legs and 6 eyes. The most stranger of all were those who seemed like big metal balls. The last ones were like blue manta-like creatures, but instead of dwelling within the sea, they were flying.

"We better tell the others about this." Kari said, sending an e-mail to her friends. When she was done, another event called her attention, as well as Gatomon's.

_On the World's Network_

"We have arrived!" announced Aelita. The entrance to the new virtual World was closed, but it took no time to break it. The Skidbladnir entered the tunel, until it reached the surface.

"Aelita, how are we going to teleport, if this world doesn't have any towers?" asked William.

"We won't. We'll just investigate this world…" Aelita hummed to herself, when a window of the Super Scan popped up on the screen of her cabin. "The Super Scan picked up 3…no, 4 activated Towers."

"So, this world has towers, right?" wondered the _Geisha._

"Yeah, but…these towers seemed different than the ones we know." replied Aelita. She maneuvered the Skid to fly towards the activated towers. "According with the Super Scan, the 4 towers are on giant crater."

When the Skidbladnir arrived at the crater, they were astonished. Not only the number of monsters was elevated, but the variety was also elevated. And, to top it all, Jeremie was among the crowd.

"Wow, XANA has been busy! Look at all those monsters!" said Ulrich.

"Forget the monsters. The Scyphozoa is attacking someone!" shouted Odd, pointed at the said monsters. It was true; the Scyphozoa had just grabbed its prey.

"OK, Odd, you go and attack the fish face. Once the Scyphozoa is gone, you join us in destroying the monsters. Disembark!"

_Back with Kari and Gatomon_

Right in front of the unknown human, a new Control Spire sprouted from the ground. The tower glowed red, like the other 3. Kari gasped and stood up to see it better. Big mistake! One of the Mantas unleashed an ear-piercing cry and shot a laser from its mouth to the girl and digimon.

"Oh, great!" the flying creatures headed to the girls. Gatomon armor-digivolved into Nefertimon, again. Kari ridded on her partner's back and both flew away. Unfortunately, XANA's minions wouldn't let the intruders escape that easily. Two Mantas joined forces and shot a double laser to Nefertimon's left wing, making her crash-land.

"KARI…HANG ON!" the digimon cried out. The landing was painful, but not deadly, unfortunately **(A.N.: Just kidding! I'm NOT a Kari-hater)**.

The digimon and human stood up, now surrounded by earth monsters. However, these weren't planning to attack, yet. They seemed to be waiting. The Armor-digivolved stood ready to fight. Some of the creatures departed to reveal the human who had 'built' the Spires.

Blond, thin and apparently with 14 years old, his face was emotionless. He wore a white and different shades of blue outfit that would be proper for a skier. In each hand, he wielded a crystal spike. On his forehead, he had a black insignia tattooed; the same insignia was on his weapons, kneepads and chest. Each monster had the same symbol.

**(A.N.: I have Jeremie's XANA outfit on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark)**

He remained looking at them, and then his monotonous glare was replaced by a smirk:

"You're a lucky girl. My Master has some plans, for you; otherwise, I would destroy you, right now." he declared, mockingly. His voice seemed to be electrical, somehow.

"What?" asked Kari. The blond just made a gesture with his fingers, has he suddenly raised his weapons and froze Nefertimon's feet to the ground.

"Oh, no!" the digimon cried out. One of the Tarantulas grabbed Kari and moved her away from her partner.

"Nefertimon!" Kari cried out. She was taken to the tallest monsters she had seen today: a giant, floating, Cyclop carminejellyfish.

"HI! HI! HI! Another one who shall gladly join our cause" the blond XANA Warrior, Jeremie Belpois laughed, watching Kari been grabbed by the Scyphozoa.

**What will happen to poor Kari? Is she going to be XANAfied permanently, like Jeremie? Are the Lyoko Warriors manage to save? Will our heroes defeat XANA? And, where the frig are the other digidestined, when you need them?**

**Stay tuned for the next episode of '**_**Buffy, the Vampire Slayer**_**'! Just kidding, it's '**_**Code: Digimon'**_**. I know the title sucks, but I'll change it, once I have a better idea.**


	2. Ep 2 XANA's new territory PART II

**Chapter 2: XANA's new territory PART II**

** Previously on '**_**Buffy the Vampire Slayer**_**'…Joking, again! By the way, XANA's lines are on BOLD. Same goes for electrical voices of Polymorphic Specters or XANAfied people. **

Gatomon was fighting with all her might to try and get to Kari. But, the monsters were too strong and without her partner, she couldn't even digivolve. She had seen the giant jellyfish grabbing Kari and touching her head with three tentacles; the cat digimon didn't know what they were doing to Kari, but she knew it wasn't good.

"Let me go!" – she cried out, jumping over one of the Tarantulas only to be hit by a laser from a Hornet. Gatomon fell, with bruisers and wounds all over and a black eye.

"Just because a cat has nine lives, that doesn't mean you should test your luck, kitty!" – mocked the blond human, close by. Gatomon glared at him, whit fury on her feline features.

"Who are you? And what do you want with Kari?"

The boy smirked:

"My name is Jeremie Belpois and I'm carrying the wishes of my master, the mighty X.A.N.A., future ruler of Earth. And, about your little friend…she's just going to help my master. Soon…" – his next words died on his lips when the tentacles of the Scyphozoa were severed by a giant shiny sword. William Dunbar's sword:

"Drop her, fish face!" – shouted William, making the Scyphozoa flee, cowardly. The monsters quickly began to turn around to face the newcomers. Gatomon glared at them. Besides the young boy with the big sword, there was a brunette guy with a yellow samurai outfit, wielding two smaller swords. Beside him, there was a tall raven-haired girl, with make up on her face and two fans on her hands. The fourth figure was a flying pink-haired elf. She had two pink energy wings, beating steadily. The last one was (Gatomon couldn't avoid a strange look. A cat digimon was one thing, but a human cat?) a cross between a human and a purple cat. To top it all, his spiked-up hair had a purple stain on the middle.

"Great, those party poopers followed us here." – Belpois muttered, suddenly getting really angry. He held up his crystal spikes and gave a war cry. – "Charge!"

A battle had began! Gatomon wasted no time, now that her captures dispersed to fight the 'humans', and ran towards Kari, who was still unconscious on the ground. The boy with the big sword was still close by her, attacking the Crabs close by.

"Kari, are you alright?" – asked the feline, in panic. Her humans partner began to stir and get up.

"What happened? Where's that thing?"

"Gone, this guy saved you." – Gatomon pointed to the Lyoko Warrior, who was now finishing off the last Tarantula with an Energy Disk. Unfortunately, now he had to deal with one Megatank.

"You better get out of here! This is getting ugly." – shouted William to the Kari and Gatomon. He used his sword to block the laser of the Megatank, but was running out of energy. There were just too many monsters and Jeremie wasn't making this any easier.

Speaking of the devil, he was now struggling against Odd:

"Yo hoo! Icestein, you mist." – joked Odd, irritating Jeremie. The bad guy had tried to freeze Odd several times, by shooting freezing rays from his weapons, but Odd was too agile. – "Face it, XANA boy, I'm too hot to be frozen."

Jeremie ignored his comment and changed strategy:

"Shape Shifting!" – Jeremie body became more toned. His outfit changed from blue and white into yellow and brown. His spikes were replaced by two swords and his hair became brown. Soon enough, a replica of Ulrich Stern was facing Odd.

"Triangulate!" – said Jeremie-Ulrich. Two clones of the fake samurai appeared behind Odd.

"I hate it when you do that." – muttered Odd. Meanwhile, Aelita managed to get rid of most of the Hornets and spotted the trouble Odd was in.

"Yumi, go and help Odd!" – she commanded and Yumi obeyed. Aelita looked at their enemies; things were looking so great and soon they would need a miracle.

_With the other young digidestined_

"I'm picking Kari's sign on my D-3. She's in the crater where you first found my base." – said Ken, ridding on Stingmon. The digidestined were warned by Kari that she had found the Spires. She also said she had found some weird digimon and a human. However, when they gave a response, she didn't answer.

'_I just hope she is alright! If not, I'll never forgive myself…' – _thought TK, worried sick about his best friend. Davis was riding on Raidramon, Yolei on Halsemon while TK and Cody flew on Pegasusmon's back.

"We're here, guys!" – shouted Davis. The four digimon arrived at the crater and glanced down, stunned for a moment. As soon as Stingmon landed, he de-digivolved into Wormmon due to the Spires.

"Wow, what are those things? And, who are those guys? And, why are the Control Spires glowing?" – questioned Yolei, openmouthed

"KARI! SHE'S OVER THERE!" – TK shouted, relieved but hysteric for Kari was in the middle of a war zone.

"Should we help the guys fighting the monsters?" – asked Armadillomon.

"Well, duh? Let's go!" – said Davis. The Digidestined and their digimon joined the fight, balancing the odds of the good guys winning.

Jeremie (back on his true form) was now fighting Yumi and Odd. Jeremie deflected the Laser Arrows from their course. However, two well hurled Tessen Fans struck him in the shoulder.

"Two points!" – cheered Odd. But Jeremie wasn't defeated yet.

"For XANA!" – he cried out, firing a freezing ray from his weapons, which managed to caught Yumi's hands, rendering her weapons useless.

"Hey, no fair!" – the _Geisha _complaint. Jeremie smiled but it was short lived as he heard a new roar that didn't belong to any of XANA's monsters:

"Thunder Blast" - the attack fried three Megatanks. The monsters and Lyoko Warriors (and Jeremie) looked up and saw more digimon and humans joining the fight. Digmon and Cody approached the XANA Warrior, standing by his side:

"Are you alright, kid?" – the armor-digivolved Armadillomon asked, thinking Jeremie was an ally. He just quirked an eyebrow, as an answer.

"I'm a bad guy, you know?" – he said, like that was the simplest thing in the world. Before the drill digimon and his partner could back away, Jeremie froze their legs and chests. That distraction, however, was enough for Odd to shoot several Laser Arrows, devirtualizing Jeremie into a cloud of white and blue smoke. He then got to Yumi and shattered the ice with his arrows. He did the same with Digmon and Cody.

"You OK?" – Odd asked.

"Yeah, thanks, but…who are you and what is going on here?" – asked Cody, trying not to look strangely at Odd's tail.

"No time for small talk. There's a battle, here." – Yumi recalled, using her Telekinesis to make a giant rock hit the Crab behind them. – "We have to defeat the monsters, now! Hit them on their insignias that look like an eye."

Digmon looked at a Tarantula, who was reading an attack:

"Gold Rush!" – he fired his multiple drills like missiles, hitting not only the Tarantula but also two Hornets.

"Now that's a _cool _power." – complimented Odd.

Meanwhile, Ken and Wormmon got to Kari and Gatomon.

"Are you alright? Kari? Gatomon?"

"Yes, we're fine, but who are these guys?" – said Kari.

"I don't know, but I think the humans are allies." – said Wormmon.

"Not _all _of those humans are allies." – noted Gatomon.

"Come on, Wormmon can't digivolve thanks to those Control Spires and you two are not looking good." – said Ken. He carried Gatomon and the four of them ran behind the digimon. While the arrival of the Digidestined was a good help, there were still a lot of monsters. If only the Control Spires were knocked down…

Ken watched the towers; they were builtin a line, like dominos. An idea! Ken shouted:

"Hey, try to forget the monsters and destroy one of the towers, pushing it against the others! Only then we can get rid of these creatures!"

Raidramon listened to this a quickly understood Ken's idea. However, one of those giant balls made of metal was on his way. He had seen firsthand what that laser could do: it cut a giant rock in two!

"Watch out for this guy, Raidramon!" – warned Davis.

'…_and maybe, it can do the same to an armor-digivolved digimon._' – the blue quadruped digimon mumbled, mentally. He had to dodge another deadly laser from the Megatank. – '_If only someone could give him a hand…'_

"Need a hand?" – asked a young male voice. At his left, the Samurai appeared. – "Triplicate!"

Ulrich's clones ran around the Megatank, confusing the monster.

"Go and destroy those towers! I'll handle this guy."

Raidramon, as well as Davis took two seconds to stop gaping at Ulrich's technique.

"OK…Thunder Blast!" – the sphere of energy hit the base of the left Control Spire, causing it to fall over the one at it's right, knocking down the Control Spires like domino.

"Alright!" – cheered Cody.

"It's now guys!" – said Yolei, while Halsemon and Pegasusmon landed in a safe spot and de-digivolved into its Rookie form, same for Raidramon and Digmon. There were still lots of monster, but they were about to get an ass whooping!

_Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon!_

_Veemon digivolve to…Ex-Veemon!_

_Ex-Veemon…Stingmon…DNA Digivolve to…Paildramon!_

_Armadillomon digivolve to…Ankilomon!_

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!_

_Angemon…Ankilomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon!_

_Hawkmon digivolve to…Aquilamon!_

It was the Lyokons turn to gawp. Instead of five small digimon, now two big and powerful Ultimates and one Champion stood. With series of 'Desperato Blasters', 'Justice Beams' and 'Blast Rings', soon enough, the monsters were wiped out.

"Wow, now that is a **cool **power." – complimented Odd.

"You already said that, Odd." – Yumi recalled, rolling her eyes. Odd began to argue with Yumi. Ken frowned, concentrating on the _Geisha_'s voice and facial features.

"Yumi? Is that you?" – asked the former Digimon Emperor. The Japanese Lyoko Warrior gazed at the boy.

"How do you know my name?" – she asked.

"Kenneth Ichijouji is my name." – he answered. Yumi eyes went wide, as she had just remembered something. Then she frowned, obviously disliking meeting Ken. Digidestined, digimon and Lyoko Warriors looked at the two interlocutors, intrigued:

"So, you know each other?" – asked Aelita.

"Yumi, who is the girl with the incredibly flat chest?" – asked Odd, pointing at Ken. Everybody froze at Odd's words. Ken felt his blood rising to his face, when he yelled:

"I'M A GUY!"

"Wow, you're a guy?" – shrieked Odd. A minute went by, until Yumi pretended that Odd had never asked that awkward question:

"Yes, this is Ken, the guy who used to have a crush on me." – confirmed Yumi, to some of the Digidestined surprise; they didn't know anything about Ken past, before his days as the Emperor.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

For the next hour, the Lyoko Warriors and Digidestined trade stories of their adventures and struggles. The newcomers told everything about the SuperComputer, XANA, Franz Hopper, Lyoko, how did the Towers worked, the Replikas and their fight. The Digidestined spared no details on the 1st Digidestined, their enemies, the Digital World, Digivolution itself and Ken's days as the Emperor.

"So, you guys came here because this ZENA thing is here, in the Digital World, right?" – asked Veemon.

"They said its name is 'XANA'." – corrected Patamon.

"That's what he said: ZENA." – said Davis, defending his partner's memory.

"No, he was supposed to say 'XANA'." – retorted Armadillomon. The Lyoko Warrior couldn't avoid but to sweatdrop at the event.

"OK, enough." – said Kari.

"Well, yes…We came here because we learned that XANA was in a new Replika. Though, that Replika wasn't of his making." – clarified Aelita.

"Two other questions: who was that blond creep and what was the Jellyfish doing to Kari?" – asked Gatomon.

"That guy was Jeremie. He used to be one of us, but three months ago, XANA tricked us into going to Lyoko, while Jeremie remained on Earth. XANA Materialized the Scyphozoa to possess Jeremie." – Ulrich told, sadly. – "And, the Jellyfish is called 'Scyphozoa'. XANA uses him to permanently possess humans on Lyoko."

"So, XANA wanted to control … me?" – asked Kari.

"Apparently, yeah." – said Odd. – "In fact, William here was controlled once."

Aelita pondered for a while and proclaimed. – "I'm going to return to the Skidbladnir and search for something that might help us."

Aelita disappeared and reappeared inside the Skid's cabin. Yolei gazed amusingly at the virtual ship:

"I'm sure Izzi would love to have a toy like that."

"Izzi?…hey, we forgot about Izzi. He must be worried sick." – TK quickly dialed a message, telling Izzi a summary of what had happened. – "He wants us to return and explain the situation from A to Z."

"And, we should return to Lyoko." – suggested William. In that moment, Aelita reappeared:

"Before we go, there're two things I found out: first, XANA has set himself in the Digital World, because this world can supply him more energy than a thousand Replikas. Second, by setting this virtual plane as his new home, XANA had to given up the Keys to Lyoko."

Most people didn't understood what the second phrase meant, though Yumi had an idea.

"Wait…that means XANA can't have any more access to the SuperComputer. He can't activate towers on Lyoko, anymore?"

"No, we won't have to worry about XANA attacking us." – confirmed Aelita. – "Now, we only have to worry about XANA activating…or rather, building towers in this world."

The allies said their goodbyes, but before that, TK walked up to William:

"Hey…hum…thanks for saving Kari." – thanked TK.

"Well…don't mention it." – replied William, entering his NavSkid.

As the group of Digidestined walked to the closest television, Davis gave a sideways look at Ken:

"No offense Ken, but your hair style sure makes you look like a girl. You have to admit that Odd was…"

"SHUT UP, DAVIS, OR YOU'LL SEE IF I'M STILL THE EMPEROR OR NOT!"

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Still in the Digital World, in a location that was nowhere, the Lyoko Warriors nemesis was watching them leave. The sentient multi-agent system wasn't furious for his opponent had discovered him; after all, the fight to conquer the world would be too easy, without any decent enemies.

He gazed at his servant and only XANA Warrior:

"**Jeremie, it seems my quest to conquer Earth won't be as simple as I thought; which is good, because otherwise, I wouldn't be able to test my cunning intelligence.**"

"Master XANA, why don't you let me go and attack those Digidestined? Their little pets seem a little tired." – suggested Jeremie.

"**No, not for now. We'll just let them rest until tomorrow night.**" – said Jeremie's Master.

"Master, what will we do tomorrow night?"

"**The same thing we'll do every night, Binky-boy. Try to take over the world!**"


	3. Ep 3 Can't Stand the Heat

**Episode 3: Can't stand the heat**

**Now, each chapter is considered and episode. Three days have passed since the Digidestined meet the Lyoko Team. **

_At Izzi's bedroom_

At night, Izzi was talking to Aelita, through a graphic window. It had been three days since the two groups met. The 2nd generation of Digidestined had told the members of the 1ST living close by about that encounter and their new struggle. Mimi and Joe were not in Japan, so the kids didn't call them.

"Tomorrow morning, you'll receive a few basic functions of the SuperComputer into your computer, along with Jeremie's Journal and my father's Diary." – said Aelita.

"Thanks, but, what type of functions are those?" – asked the red-head.

"First of all, you'll be able to talk and hear your friends, instead of having to send messages to their D-Terminals. Plus, you can tell them when there's an enemy approaching." – instructed Aelita. It was strange; Izzi was smart, but despite been younger, Aelita was smarter.

"Prodigious! If we had that before, it would have been easier…" – Izzi began, but Aelita cut him.

"Yes, but it's already late here in France and I need to go to sleep. Good night." – she said, before the window was closed. Izzi turned off his computer, excited about tomorrow, that he didn't even notice one of the areas getting black, before he powered off the computer.

_In the Digital World_

Caves existed both in the Real and Digital Worlds. Some were so deep and dark that made them the perfect hiding spots. Intruders could search the all cave and not find what they are looking for. Plus, those intruders could die from starvation or dehydration in a matter of days, if they were lost in the cave.

That's why on a deep hidden chamber of a cave, in the Digital World, a glowing red Control Spire sprouted from the ground, like it was so sort of a dark, branchless, leafless tree.

_Back in Odiaba_

A tanker was transporting gasoline on the trailer. The driver was passing by Odiaba and had to stop on a traffic light. The man did not take notice of the strange black smoke that come out of the traffic light and surrounded the cargo. Only when the vehicle trembled that the man noted. He saw some strange movement, by the rearview mirror and opened the door, to check it out.

"Hey, if is this is a prank, you better…" – however, he did not finish his sentence as his eyes went wide. The metal cylinder where the highly inflammable liquid used to be was slip opened and the gasoline was gone.

"I'm so fired!"

PARAGRAPH BREAK

"Yolei, that's enough! It was just an old crush. It was even before my days as the Emperor. Now, it's nothing." – replied Ken, exasperated. He and Yolei were both in the walking towards Odiaba's school.

**(A.N.: Yeah, now Ken attends Odiaba's school.)**

The crimson haired girl had been asking him about Yumi and his past with her. She didn't seem completely satisfied with that answer and Ken knew it.

"Yolei, she didn't even like me. Then, she moved to France and I forget about her. And, just because she's back, that doesn't mean I like her, again."

"Well, you were staring at her, when we met the Lyoko Team." – she growled, unfriendly.

"I was stunned, because she was the last person I would expect to see again." – he clarified.

"Or maybe because you couldn't believe the girl you loved was back." – Yolei muttered. She looked into Ken's eyes and asked. – "Answer me, Ken: do you still like her? Who is the girl that you like?"

"Yolei…I…" – the girl took Ken's hesitation as a 'yes' and turned around, running away from him crying.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

It was time for lunch. The 02 Digidestined were all in the cafeteria, eating their trades of food, at the same table. Ken was between TK and Davis, while Yolei sat as far from him, as possible, with Kari and Cody by her side. The crimson haired girl avoided eye contact with Ken, all the time. She had told Kari and Cody what happened, and Ken explained the situation to Davis and TK. None of the 4 wanted to interfere, since they knew how explosive Yolei could be. Unfortunately, it wasn't time to be divided, for something just blew up in the cafeteria.

Students began to run, hysterics, when a fire erupted. However, this _fire _wasn't normal. It didn't spread, it moved, like it was alive and was heading towards a specific group of students. Plus, it had an almost humanoid shape, it kinda resembled a ghost. TK was the first seeing a strangely blue symbol on the said fire-ghost chest.

"It's XANA!" – he shouted, as the Digidestined all got up and moved away from the table, that was now burning. – "We have to get to the computer room."

The group exited the building, while the Lunch Ladyused anextinguisher**,** which didn't work. In fact, that only made the flames bigger.

The Digidestined arrived at the Computer Room, where their Digimon were playing hide and seek.

"Guys, no time to play. XANA is attacking; we need to go to the Digital World." – said TK, hoarsely from all the running. The Digimon stopped the game and Yolei began typing on the computer.

"Found it. The tower is inside a cave. Aelita and the others are already heading there and they'll meet us at the entrance." – she said, holding up her D-3.

"Wait, what if that fire specter hurts somebody? It's us XANA is after." – warned Kari.

"That's right. Some of us should stay here to fight that thing." – supportedTK. – "I'll stay."

"And me too." – said Cody. – "Shakkoumon might do the trick."

"Ok, but let's hurry. The faster we knock down that thing, the better." – muttered Davis. – "Digiport Open!"

_At the Digital World_

"Guys, call me crazy, but I could swear I heard a motorcycle." – said Kari, after she, Davis, Ken and Yolei arrived at the forest.

"Kari, there are no motorcycles in the Digital World." – retorted Gatomon.

"I know but…Hey, look!" – she said, pointed at the horizon. A strange dot, with a trail of dust behind it was approaching. There were four other dots: a pink one was flying, along with a purple one and a grey one. The last dot was blue and was also moving on the ground. The Digidestined and their Digimon were amazed to see the Lyoko Warriors travelling on their vehicles. Ulrich was riding a motorbike with a single wheel. Odd was flying in a purple board. Yumi used a strange flying disk. William vehicle was a skate that appeared to be from the 22nd century, whit two small jets. **(A.N.: Since William is part of the team, I decide to give him is own vehicle, the OverSkate)** Aelita had no transport; she merely used her wings to fly.

"Wow, cool toys." – complimented Davis.

"Thanks. Get on." – said Ulrich.

"No need to." – the Googlehead replied. He and his friends (minus Ken) all said in unison:

"Digi-armor Energize!"

_Veemon armor-digivolve to…Raidramon, the storm of Friendship_

_Hawkmon armor-digivolve to…Halsemon, the wings of Love_

_Gatomon armor-digivolve to…Nefertimon, the angel of Light_

_Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon_

Everybody climbed onboard their respective mounts. The Lyoko Team lead the way, while the Digidestined followed.

"Hey, guys, where is you ship?" – asked Yolei.

"The Skid is 'parked'on a hidden place, a little far from here." – said Yumi. Yolei groaned; she wasn't happy that Ishiyama was the one who answered her.

They arrived at the entrance of the cave and Stingmon immediately de-digivolve. Not only he was too big to fit into the cave, but the tower was close by. Meaning, no normal digivolutions to the Digimon.

"Hey, you can go with me." – offered Odd. Ken, with Wormon on his shoulder. The blue haired boy grabbed hold as Odd continued boarding. During the all journey, Ken kept looking at Yumi. Odd followed his gaze by the corner of his eye.

"You like that crimson haired chick, don't you?" – the human cat asked.

"Don't call her 'chick'. Her name is Yolei." – he replied.

"So, is that a 'yes'?" – Odd asked, with a grin. Ken didn't answer right away.

"She is angry at me, because she thinks I still like Yumi." – he sighed.

"Well, she'll forget, soon or later." – said Odd. – "Besides, Yumi has already two, no three guys drooling over her: Ulrich, William and Jonhy."

"Ken, I don't know much of that stuff but you should talk with Yolei." – suggested Wormmon.

"Shorty is right, kid." – supported Odd. Ken sighed again and then asked casually to Odd:

"Do you like somebody, Odd?"

"Not really, I've dated every girl on my class, save for Aelita and a spoiled brat named Sissi. I'm not exactly the romantic type. But our group always had troubles about love: Ulrich and Yumi always get into a fight because of William or Sissi. Jeremie and Aelita are too shy and stubborn to admit they like each other."

"Jeremie, the guy under XANA's control? From what Kari said about him, he seems pretty nasty to be just under control. When I turned digimon into slaves they didn't show free personalities of their own."

Odd's reply never came out, because the cave began to collapse. Large fragments of rock and dirt began to fall over the heroes.

"Hurry, guys!" – shouted Raidramon. They had to speed up, but among the falling rocks, Yolei and Ken fell over.

"KEN!" – cried out Wormmon, who was grabbed by Odd, just in time.

"YOLEI!" – cried out Halsemon, crash landing and reverting back to Hawkmon.

The ceiling finally stopped falling. However the problems were not over. Yolei and Ken were stuck between two piles of rocks, blocking their way to the exit and in to the depths of the cave.

"Yolei, Ken, are you alright?" – asked Kari, hoping they were alive.

"_Yeah, we're fine._" – answered Ken, his voice heard behind the wall of rocks.

"Don't worry, we'll take you out of there in no time." – said Raidramon, preparing his attack.

"No, wait! You can make the ceiling fall, again." – Yumi warned.

"Guys, we must hurry!" – said Aelita. – "The tower is still a little far."

"_Go without us! The sooner the Spire is destroyed, the better._" – shouted Yolei.

"Guys, without Yolei and Ken, we can't digivolve. We should stay here too and try to move some rocks." – said Hawkmon.

"Ok, but don't do a thing, if the rocks begin to move, again." – advised Yumi. The rest of the group carried on, advancing deeper within the cave.

_At Odiaba School_

The students were been evacuated from the school. The fire not only was alive, but also couldn't be extinguished like an ordinary fire. However, two students were in the courtyard and they had the solution.

"Let's do it, guys!" – said Armadillomon and Patamon in unison.

"Right, time to teach XANA who he is messing with." – said TK.

_Armadillomon digivolve to…Ankylomon_

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon_

_Angemon…Ankylomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon_

The white iron angel digimon appeared, and glared at the burning building. The sun symbol on Shakkoumon waist opened and absorbed all the fire, leaving the building damaged, but not at the point of collapsing.

"Good job, Shakkoumon!" – cheered Cody. However, their victory was short-lived. Shakkoumon began to shake and his body increased in temperature, drastically.

"TK…Cody…there's something wrong." – the Ultimate Digimon's voice break, as the sun symbol opened again and the flames come out. Only this time, they surrounded the two boys and the Digimon. There were dozens of fire specters around the group, ready to attack.

"**AH! AH! AH! Did you believe you could defeat me, having your giant tea-pot doll thing swallowing me through his belly-button?**" – taunted a maniacal voice that came from all the fire specters.

"I beg your pardon, XANA?" – hissed Shakkoumon. He never took kindly to people who insulted him. – "Justice Beams!"

The super-heat vision laser beams hit some of the specters. Unfortunately, that only made them bigger.

"Shakkoumon, stop! You're making him stronger!" – warned Cody.

"**Oh, yeah! Thanks for the power boost, Binky-boy!**" – replied XANA, through his many fire specters.

"Kachina Bombs!" – the metal disk the Ultimate launched against the enemies were easily melted by the heat.

"**HI! HI! HI! You know what they say: If you can't stand the heat, you better let me kill you. And, speaking of kill, when I done with you, digimon, I'll start by incinerating the blondy's hat.**"

XANA words had a deep impact on TK:

"Listen, pall! You can threat all you like, you can insult me all you like, you can **even** try and kill me. But, nobody, and I mean, NOBODY screws with my hat." - hissed the Digidestined of Hope, furious.

_Back with Yolei and Ken_

"Yolei, are you alright?" – asked Ken, concerned. The girl nodded, though she returned to her sulking, non-talking-to-Ken mood, right after. The boy sighed, again, but this time, it was in exasperation.

"Yolei, I don't know how many times I've told you this, but I don't like Yumi. It was just a stupid childish crush, for God's sake!"

"Then, why didn't you answer my question?" – she persisted.

"Because…my love interests are none of your business!" – Ken answered harshly, without thinking of what he had just said.

"Ha! I knew it! You still like her!" – Yolei hissed, bitterly. – "You're still in love with her, aren't you?"

"You're the most stubborn girl I've ever met!" – yelled Ken. – "How hard is it to fid in your brainless head that I don't care about her. I only care about you! I'm in love with you, you loudmouth, know-it-all, computer nerd!"

"I love you, too, you snob, spoiled, genius!" – she yelled back.

"Fine!" – he shouted out.

"FINE!" – she replied in the same tone. Both Digidestined stared at the other, their eyes wide open, after realizing what each one of htme had just admitted.

"You said you…loved me?" – she asked, silently. Ken nodded.

"So did you." – he whispered. She fragilely walked up to him and inquired:

"You really mean it?"

Ken just nodded, still stunned at the strange current moment. She touched his left cheek and let her head rest on his shoulder. Ken hugged her, feeling the lavender aroma of her hair.

Yolei gavez up, meeting his eyes. Their faces came closer and closer…until the both of them had to pull away when the rocks began to rise back up, filling the places where they had fell from.

_Now, with the rest of the group_

The Lyoko Warriors and two riding Digimon discovered and hidden chamber, by using a holographic map, from Aelita's star-bracelet. However, there was a great surprise awaiting our heroes…

"Hey, where is everybody?" – asked Davis.

"Shouldn't the Tower be guarded by XANA's creatures?" – asked Nefertimon.

"Yeah, but…it's as if XANA doesn't care if we win." – suggested Ulrich.

"We should, even though, take care of it" – shrugged William, making his blade glow bright white. – "Energy Disk!"

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Thunder Blaster!"

"Energy Field!"

The tower was vaporized with the four attacks. Kari hurried sending a message to TK, telling them the tower was taken care of. The group briefed in releaf, but it was short-lived. Aelita's star-bracelet beeped. She touched it and the holographic screen appeared. The pinkette girl gasped.

"What is it, Princess?" – asked Odd, worried that they were in for bad news. And he was right to worry.

"This tower was just a decoy. XANA is attacking the Skibladnir. That's why there were no monsters protecting this tower." – she announced. The party, especially the Lyoko Warriors, turned around, going as fast as they could. They arrived at the block passage. Wormmon and Hawkmon were still there, having had no success in opening a passage.

"So, did you destroy the Control Spire?" – inquired Wormmon.

"Yeah, but we have more problems to solve, now!" – said Ulrich. Yumi placed her hands on her forehead and her body began to glow with a faint pink aura:

"Telekinesis." – she whispered. The rocks began to rise up, to the place where they fell from.

"Let me help." – Aelita kneeled down and began to sing, using her 'Creativity' the assist Yumi. Pretty soon, the damage to the cave had been 'fixed', showing Ken and Yolei. The two appeared to have just stand away from each other, blushing and embarrassed. That, fortunately for them, went unnoticed for their rescuers.

"Hey, guys, did …" – Yolei was cut in by William:

"No time for small talk!" – Wormmon and Hawkmon both digivolved to their champion forms and transported their partners to the outside. A few minutes later, they could see the shield of the Skid been attacked by five Tarantulas and Jeremie:

"Great, more bug problems." – muttered Odd.

"And Jack Frost to top it off." – mumbled Davis, pointing at Jeremie. The attackers just turned their back on the ship, to 'greet' the newcomers.

"Does any of you can spit fire? It could be good to handle Icestein." – inquired Ulrich. Raidramon and Davis grinned.

"I'll take care of him." – Raidramon de-digivolved into Veemon.

_Veemon armor-digivolve to…Flamedramon, the fire of Courage._

The armored bipedal blue dragon stepped forward and gazed at Jeremie. While he who take on Jeremie, the others were dealing with the spiders. XANA's servant just stood there, waiting for Flamedramon to make the first move. Which he did.

"Fire Rocket!" – Flamedramon raise up in the air and a flaming aura surrounded him. The digimon was now descending against Jeremie, who counter-attacked:

"Ice!" – from his twin weapons, Jeremie projected a freezing ray. It wasn't enough to knock out Flamedramon, but rendered the digimon's assault useless.

"Flaming Fist!" – Flamedramon tried to punch Jeremie, but the human blocked the attack with his spikes. Now, Flamedramon's claws were stuck on Jeremie's weapons.

"You know, it's not a good idea to keep physical contact with me." – commented the blond, with a dangerous smirk on his lips.

"Oh, yeah? And why is that?" – The digimon asked.

"Because of this: Life Drainer!" – Jeremie used his most dangerous technique. Flamedramon immediately began to feel weaker by the minute. Like Jeremie's ice was consuming him. He could feel his power and energy going straight to Jeremie's body, abandoning his own and powering XANA's minion.

"Flamedramon!" – shouted Davis, helplessly. Flamedramon fainted and de-digivolved not to Veemon but to DemiVeemon.

"Hey, don't you dare hurt him!" – threatened Davis.

"Whatever." – mumbled Jeremie, uninterested, and kicked DemiVeemon to Davis feet. However, Ulrich, Odd and William finished two of the Tarantulas and were now facing him.

"Hey, Icestein, now that you have 'warmed up', how about some real fighting?" – taunted Odd, aiming at him. Jeremie just smirked:

"I haven't warmed up, yet, Odd." – Jeremie rose in the air, high above them and his body was surrounded by fire that didn't consume him.

"Fire Rocket!" – Jeremie called out, falling on the three enemies, like an actual rocket. That attack was completely unexpected that the 3 Lyoko Warriors had no chance. They were instantly devirtualized. Jeremie proceeded with eliminating the other enemies. Yumi had been devirtualized and Aelita was down to her last 20 Life Points. Fortunately, only one Tarantula remained and the digimon were having no problem.

"Spiking Strike!"

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Blast Rings!"

The poor monster had no chance surviving that triple attack. However, the distraction was enough for Jeremie to attack Nefertimon from behind, making her revert to Gatomon. Only Aquilamon and Stingmon remained. Aelita couldn't fight, because if she was devirtualized, there would be nobody to drive the Skid back home.

"It's two against one, so just give up." – said Aquilamon.

"Actually, I think it's **three** against **two**." – corrected Jeremie. – "Shape Shifting!"

Jeremie transformed into a perfect identical twin of Ulrich. Jeremie-Ulrich unsheathed his two blades and called out:

"Triplicate!" – Jeremie-Ulrich was followed by his two clones. Using Ulrich's 'Super Sprint', the two clones were on Stingmon's back, while the original got to Aquilamon's dorse, in a blink of an eye. The three samurai stabbed them, causing them to cried out and jumped off the backs of the two digimon.

"Aquilamon!" – shrieked Yolei.

"Stingmon, are you alright?" - cried out Ken.

"So, what were you saying about me giving up, turkey?" – taunted Jeremie-Ulrich, now changing into William's form. The Digimon ignored him and attacked.

"Spiking Strike!"

"Glide Horn!"

"Super Smoke!" – Jeremie-William changed into a trail of blue smoke and avoided the attacks. – "Energy Disk!"

Jeremie-William rotated his blade, launching a razor wave of energy towards Stingmon, almost knocking him out.

'_This isn't good. If they lose now, nothing will stop him from destroying the Skidbladnir…and then, us.' _– thought Ken, frustrated. – _'If only he stopped using the powers of the other Lyoko Warriors…Hey, that's it!'_

Ken smiled as an idea danced on his mind. He called Jeremie's attention:

"Hey Jeremie, you should really give up. After all, you haven't used your real power against us."

Stingmon and Aquilamon stopped, intrigued with what Ken was doing. His companions also looked at him, puzzled:

"Ken, stay away from him!" – warned Stingmon.

"Ken, what are you doing?" – asked Yolei. Jeremie-William gazed at him, confused, as well:

"What do you mean, girl?"

"I'm a GUY, by the way." – Ken muttered, but recovered his cool. – "So far, you've been using powers that are not yours. You used the power you stole from Flamedramon to beat Odd and the others. And now you're using the powers of your friends. So, you're not as strong as you claim."

Jeremie-William looked at him, both angry and pondering.

"You know, as much as I would love to slice you, you do have a point. Fine, I'll fight with my elemental strength, only, just to prove you wrong." – XANA's soldier reverted back to his true form, the giant sword been replaced by two spikes.

The fight continued. Stingmon and Aquilamon were now attacking from the air, while Jeremie dodged their assaults. The blond had called for his skiers, which materialized on his feet and he began skiing on the ground, at a great speed.

"Blast Rings!" – Aquilamon called out, firing rings of energy from his mouth. Jeremie raised his weapons and created an ice dome over him, to use as a shield. The ice managed to resist to the attack. Ken saw their chance of winning.

"Now, Stingmon!" – the insect digimon dove towards the ice barrier. Jeremie closed his eyes, laughing.

"Haven't you seen the effect of the turkey's attack? Your pet's 'spiking striking thing' can make any difference."

"You shouldn't close your eyes during a fight." – said Ken. Jeremie looked up and saw, instead of perforating the dome of ice, Stingmon punched it with all his might, tearing the barrier apart. Jeremie didn't have enough time to ski away, before one of the largest pieces of ice fell over him, devirtualizing him.

Everybody cheered when Jeremie vanished. Yolei even hugged Ken.

_Later, back in the Real World_

When the Digidestined returned to Earth, the school had been closed, due to the destruction caused by the fire. However, everything was fixed, after a **Return to the Past**.

Yolei and Ken were, once again, walking to school. Only this time, there was no arguing. In fact, Yolei had a victorious smile on her face.

"You know what the best thing about this jump back in time is?" – she asked, merrily.

"Because, I'll be able to catch up with the lesson I had lost, when I was trying to call your attention?" – he said, with a smile, sheepishly. Yolei frowned.

"Because we'll be able to enjoy this day, again, without you been mad at me?" – he tried again, with the same smile. Yolei face lighted up.

"Now, that's more like it, Kenny."

* * *

><p><strong>DELETED SCENE:<strong>

"You guys know why I have called you, right?" – said Izzi. The Junior Digidestined, along with Tai, Matt and Sora were on Izzi's room. Yolei had her arms crossed and was fuming, whilst Ken gave her friendly glares that she just ignored.

"Because you want to show off your knew program?" – asked Davis.

"No." – replied the computer pro, annoyed. – "Because I just got the information about XANA that Aelita wanted to give me. They're all in Jeremie Belpois' Journal and she has recommended certain videos to be watched first."

"Wait, so you called us here, so we can all watch videos? Who are you and what have you done with Izzi?" – joked Matt. Tai couldn't avoid a little chuckle. Izzi ignored him and played the first video.

Jeremie appeared on the window and began speaking. This had been recorded many months before he was permanently XANAfied:

'_1__st__ March 1999. Today XANA corrupted the __**Return to the Past**__ Program. We didn't understand why, at the beginning. Perhaps he was just using it to prevent us from de-activating the tower. However, his aim was far worse; he was trying to make himself more powerful. We learnt that Returns to the Past make XANA stronger._

_The last one he did made him strong enough to possess humans. He actually possessed Sissi, to have me tied up, while the Scyphozoa attacked Aelita…'_

_'12__th__ May 2000. We recruited William Dunbar into our group. He and Aelita went to Lyoko, for XANA was attacking the Core. However, XANA possessed William through the Scyphozoa and used him to destroy Lyoko. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi could do nothing. Though Franz Hopper sent me the data I needed to rebuild Lyoko, William might be gone for good.'_

_'14__th __May 2000. William miraculously returned, alive and well. Unfortunately, he was under XANA's control. We only discovered that when Aelita disappeared. William kidnapped her and took her to Lyoko. He wanted to dragger into the Digital Sea. So far, no clue why. We managed to save Aelita, before William diving into the Digital Sea, returning to XANA.'_

_'28__th__ May 2000. Not only we managed to get rid of that __**Genderbender **_**(A.N.: To learn more about this, check out my fanfict '**_**XANA's craziest plan ever!**_**') **_that XANA implanted on us, but we also managed to retrieve William. We're back to normal and XANA lost his most powerful minion. Now that our team is complete, again, I'm sure the fight against XANA will be easier.'_

Thenext video had something different. Instead of Jeremie, Aelita stood there:

'_30__th__ May 2000. The previous XANA attack was a decoy to lure us all into Lyoko, while Jeremie stood at the Lab. He lost contact with him, but when we recovered, he claimed that everything was fine. Later, it turned out that, during the time we lost contact, XANA Materialized the Scyphozoa to possess Jeremie._

_After a futile Return to the Past, Jeremie said that XANA was attacking the Core of Lyoko. He insisted in going with us. Turned out that he purposely Virtualized Odd, Ulrich and Yumi in the Forest Sector. When, I, William and Jeremie arrived at Carthage, he used his new XANA ice power to freeze William and knock me out, planning to drag me into the Digital Sea._

_Though Ulrich saved me, Jeremie escaped and returned to XANA's clutches, making him now XANA's newest soldier.'_

'_23__rd__ August 2000. I localized a new Replika, though this one seems strange; it doesn't have any trace of XANA on his structure, meaning, XANA is not its creator. Nevertheless, XANA was there. Plus, he deleted all of the other Replikas. Now, there's really a good motive to sail to that Replika.'_


	4. 1 VERY IMPORTANT WARNING

1VERY IMPORTANT WARNING

Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning direct from both Microsoft and Norton.

Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet.

You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation "Life is beautiful."

If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately. If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: "It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful."

Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password.

PLEASE E-MAIL THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW


	5. Ep 4 To the dark side, again

**Episode 4: To the dark side, again**

**Let me remind you that whenever XANA, a Polymorphic Specter or a XANAfied person speaks with that weird electrical possessed voice, the lines are written in Bold.**

On Saturday's morning, Davis was snoring loudly on his bed. DemiVeemon was also in dream land. However, the Gogglehead's beauty sleep was cut short when a shriek was heard in the entire apartment. Davis eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the bed, startled, landing hardly on the floor:

"What the…" – he mumbled, waking up.

"A PIMPLE! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! WHAT WILL MY PRECIOUS MATT SAY…"

"Jun." – Davis muttered, standing up. Now, that his sister had waking him up (and perhaps the rest of the building, too), there was no point returning to bed. DemiVeemon however, hadn't woken up with that scream.

"How can he sleep through a scream like that? Wonder if a bomb went off he would woke up." – the Digidestined of Courage and Friendship, exiting the bedroom heading to the bathroom.

He looked at the mirror and began washing his face with fresh water. Unbeknownst to Davis, a specter of black smoke exited an electrical out let and approached him, silently. XANA's ghost entered Davis' body by his left ear. The Digidestined yelped and fell onto the floor. Davis rolled onto to the ground, trying to win the battle within him. The specter came out of his mouth and returned to the electrical outlet. Davis stood up, gasping and stunned by what had just happened.

_An hour later, at Izzi's_

The younger Digidestined, minus Davis, were reunited in Izzi's bedroom. Ken was the only one whose digimon wasn't with him. The red-head computer pro had called a meeting, about something strange XANA did. Aelita was in touch, speaking through a graphic window, on the screen.

"Guys, this morning XANA activated a Spire. However, he de-activated it, soon after. As if XANA had called off his attack." – said Izzi.

"Is that why you called us?" – asked Kari.

"Well, we hacked into the specific Spire and from the data we analyzed, the tower was used to XANAfie a human." – informed Aelita.

"XANAfie?" – asked Upamon.

"It means that XANA tried to possess somebody, but for some reason, XANA has given up…" – Izzi was cut in by Davis and DemiVeemon on the boy's shoulder. The Gogglehead was panting, like he had run a marathon.

"Davis, you never ran like this when you're late for school." – commented Yolei. Davis ignored her and spoke when he caught his breath.

"XANA…tried to…possess me." – he announced, making the other Digidestined and Aelita gasp.

"What? He possessed you?" – asked TK, standing up, in case Davis was under XANA's control.

"He tried…and failed." – said Davis.

"Once XANA attempted to possess Odd and Ulrich, but he didn't succeeded, because Odd and Ulrich had been virtualized on Lyoko, making them immune to XANA's control." – said Aelita.

"Maybe we should find out why Davis is immune." – proposed Izzi. – "Davis, you're going to the Digital World."

"And, what should I do there?" – asked the Googlehead, puzzled.

"Nothing. While there, I'll perform a scan to your body, to see why you haven't been XANAfied." – instructed Izzi.

"You can do that?" – asked Ken.

"Yes, thanks to the programs that Aelita has sent me." – replied Izzi. – "You can go now, Davis."

"Digiport Open!" – Davis and DemiVeemon were suck into the computer. Izzi began typing for the next five minutes. Then, he told Davis to return.

"I don't know what saved you from XANA's control, but I'll study the results and tell you once I know."

"You could send me a copy of the results, so I can analyze them, as well." – said Aelita. Izzi did as she told.

"Speaking of Davis' results, I hope the grade you get on this test is better than your last." – said DemiVeemon, grinning. Izzi began analyzing the results of the scan, while the younger Digidestined talked about what XANA might be planning next.

Soon after, the Digidestined bid their goodbyes to each other.

"May I go to the bathroom?" – asked Ken, been polite, before leaving. Izzi nodded. Inside the bathroom, a specter appeared and entered Ken's body, before the boy could scream.

Ken writhedon the floor, having the same struggle against XANA's ghost as Davis had. Unfortunately, when the Digidestined of kindness picked himself up, his once indigo eyes had now XANA's insignia pulsing:

"**Now, that's much better, Binky-boy.**" – the XANAfied Digidestined groaned.

_Later, with Davis, Tai, TK and Kari_

"He shootsand he scores! Who's the man? It's Davis Motomya!" – Davis was bragging, after a soccer game. It was getting late, the sun was setting. The streets were a little desert. Davis, TK, Kari and Tai were walking away from the soccer field, with their digimon, minus Agumon. The Odiaba team played against Tamachi, again. This time Odiaba won, though Ken didn't compete.

"Kay, Davis, we get the picture." – said Tai, rolling his eyes, though Davis carried on narrating his moves.

"Hey, guys, any idea why Ken didn't show up?" – questioned TK, wanting to change the subject.

"I heard he claimed he was sick, or something." – said Kari. – "At least, that's what the couch of Tamachi's team said."

"Or maybe he knew I was gonna beat him." – bragged Davis.

"Don't let Yolei hear that or she'll break your neck." – DemiVeemon said, making Davis shiver a little. Everybody laughed a little.

"Hey, has Izzi said anything about why XANA couldn't possess Davis?" – asked Tai. After the meeting, the news about the attempt of XANAfieing Davis was spread through the all team.

"Nope. Still nothing." – answered TK.

"Speaking of Ken, I haven't seen him all day, after our meeting at Izzi's." – said Kari. – "He promised he would help me with my homework, today."

"**Sorry, Sweet Cheeks, but your homework will have to wait.**" – laughed a strange electrical voice. The Digidestined looked up and saw a figure on the roof of a two storey buildingholding a large pipe.

"Hey, is that…Ken?" – asked Patamon, puzzled.

"He doesn't look happy to see us." – mumbled Gatomon. Ken jumped off the building, going straight for his 'friends'.

"**I'm going to kill you!**" – he shouted, on his descend. The Digidestined stood back from the place where Ken landed, striking with his weapon.

"What the…" – began Tai.

"No, not Ken." – comprehension darted on Kari's face. – "XANA. Look into his eyes. Ken has been possessed by XANA!"

True enough; the others looked closer into Ken's eyes, only to find XANA's insignia on them. The XANAfied boy slashed at them with the pipe.

"Boom bubble!"

"Neko punch!" – Ken shot electricity from his hand towards Patamon and hit Gatomon with the pipe. That was only enough to knock them out, temporarily. He made a B-line towards Kari.

"Not my sister, pal!" – Tai roared, shoving Ken against a motorbike, knocking both the vehicle and the boy, like mere toys

"Tai, did you just shovedKen into a motorcycle?" – asked TK, stunned.

"XANAfied or not, I'll kick everyone who plans to arm Kari." – the Digidesitned first leader answered, emotionlessly.

"That's not what we meant. How did you manage to do that?" – questioned Davis.

"Are you on steroids, or something?" – asked Kari.

"Steroids? What's that? Can I have some?" – inquired DemiVeemon.

"No, those steroids are mine…I mean, NO! I'm not on ster…" – Tai sentence was never finished, for the sound of a motorbike starting was heard. Ken was riding the vehicle.

"Is Ken old enough to have a motorbike?" – asked Davis, stupidly. While ridding, Ken grabbed Kari and shocked her, putting her out cold.

"**I'm taking Sweet Cheeks for a ride.**" – Ken yelled, riding away.

"KARI!" – cried out both Gatomon, TK and Tai, being the last one who cried out louder.

"You don't know what you're doing, XANA! Kari gets travel-sick real easily!" – shouted Tai, hysterically. Soon enough, Kari emptied the contents of her stomach over Ken's lap.

"**Eww! Oh, come on, man. I just got this body!**" – yelled Ken, disgusted.

"Patamon, digivolve now!" – ordered TK.

_Patamon armor-digivolve to…Pegasusmon, the flying Hope_

TK climbed on board of his digimon. Tai made an attempt, but TK sotpped him.

"No, Ken is possessed and Gatomon can't digivolve without Kari. Paildramon and Silphymon won't be available. We might need Agumon to get to the tower. You must go with the others." – the blond said.

"I'm not leaving my sister with that maniac!" – Tai yelled.

"I'll save her, I promise!" – TK replied.

"You better do or you'll be in worse shape than Ken, when I get him!" – threatened the Digidestined of Courage.

"I'm coming with you. I'm not leaving Kari!" – Gatomon jumped on Pegasusmon back and the digimon flew away.

_Meanwhile, with the Lyoko Warriors_

"Odd and Yumi, stay here to protect the Skid. Ulrich, William and I are going to look for the tower. Disembark!" – Aelita pushed the button that made Ulrich, William and herself to disappear from the Skidbladnir and reappear outside the virtual ship.

"Virtualization: OverBike and OverSkate. Wings!" – the vehicles appeared and Ulrich and William ridded them, following Aelita. The trio soon found the Spire. It was been guarded by three Megatanks and Jeremie. XANA's minions were examining their surroundings, carefully, looking for enemies. The Lyoko Team hid behind a rock.

"Should we attack now?" – asked Ulrich.

"No. I'm going to inform Izzi that we found the tower. I just hope he is online."

A few minutes later, Aelita managed to contact Izzi. The Digidestined, meaning Tai, Davis, Yolei and Cody were with him, on his room. Tai was passing back and forth.

**Aelita: **"_Izzi, we have located the tower. William, Ulrich and I are hiding behind a rock. The spire is been protected by Jeremie and 3 Megatanks."_

**Izzi: **_"_OK, Aelita, but the closest Digi-Port is a little far away from that place."

**Aelita: **"_One of us will go there and then take you here."_

Izzi looked over his shoulder, at the Digidestined behind him.

"You can go now, guys. One of the Lyoko Warriors will take you to the Spire."

"Good, the faster we save Ken, the better! DigiPort, open!" – said Yolei. The three youngsters and respective partners, along with Tai and Agumon were sucked into the computer.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

It was getting late, and Ken was driving in a dark, isolated road, were it was difficult to track him down. TK, Gatomon and Pegasusmon were right behind him, following the XANAfied Digidestined by air.

"**Ohhh! Chase me, Horsie! **" – taunted Ken. The street ended in a an alley.

"It's a dead end. He can't escape now." – said TK. Ken pulled over and dropped the unconscious girl on the ground. He gazed at the Pegasus digimon that landed in front of him. Gatomon ran up to Kari and Ken didn't even bother stopping the digital cat.

"Kari, are you alright?" – asked Gatomon. The girl began to stir and woke up.

"Gatomon, what…?"

"**We meet again, Binky-Boy. And, this time, I won't simply satisfy with burning your hat.**" – said Ken, gazing at the other boy.

"XANA, you monster! Ken doesn't belong to you!" – yelled TK.

"**It is not by my hand that I am once again** **given flesh.**" – Ken retorted. Then, he paused before saying. – "**Well, actually it is…but that matters not. What matters is that I was brought back by 'humans' who wish to pay me tribute.**"

"Tribute? You steal men's souls and make them your slaves!" – countered the blond.

"**Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.**" – commented Ken, rolling his eyes.

"Your words are as empty as your soul. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!" – TK retorted back.

"**What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets. But enough of this, Binky-boy. It's time to kill you.**" – having that said, Ken fired created a ball of electrify on his hand, like Aelita's Energy Fields and fired at Pegasusmon. The flying Digimon took flight.

"**Cheater**." – muttered Ken, despite the smirk on his lips. Gatomon and Kari approached TK, standing away from Ken.

"Try not to hurt him, Pegasusmon!" – said TK.

"Got it!" – replied the Pegasus. Ken created another ball of energy and attacked his flying enemy.

"Equis Beam!" – Pegasusmon used his own attack, which came in contact with Ken's. The contact of the two energies caused a small explosion in mid air. When the dust settled, Ken was gone.

"Hey, where is he?" – asked Kari, looking around.

As if summoned, Ken landed on Pegasusmon's back. The indigo-haired boy had jumped after the explosion, thanks to his XANA enhanced abilities. Unleashing electricity from his hands, he began shocking the Pegasus Digimon.

"Pegasusmon!" – screamed TK.

"Maybe we should hurt Ken, a little." – suggested Gatomon.

"Gatomon, you think you can digivolve into Angewomon?" – questioned Kari.

"I'll try."

Ken, who had overheard that, didn't feel like fighting two opponents. It was better let the armored Champion now and prevent Gatomon from becoming an Ultimate.

The bearer of Kindness (though he wasn't been very kind at the moment) jumped from Pegasusmon. Ken landed right in front of Gatomon, who stepped back at the insane gaze of the possessed boy. Ken violently kicked the cat against a wall.

"Gatomon!" – yelped Kari.

"**Now, it's your turn, Sweet Cheeks!**" – Ken gave the same maniac glare at Kari.

"Don't you touch her!" – like a wild animal, TK pushed Ken against wall. The possessed boy hit hardly the wall, but quickly recovered.

"**It's not nice to att…**" – stopped his sentence and his eyes went wide. Like he had just realized something.

"**Oh, no! Don't you even think about it, Aelita!**" – Ken got into the motorbike again, ridding out of there.

"Where is he going?" – asked Pegasusmon, who had just recovered.

"He said something about Aelita." – said Kari, who was now checking if Gatomon was alright.

"Aelita… Oh, no!" – yelped TK. – "If Ken goes to the Digital World, XANA won't need the tower to control him, anymore. He'll be possessed like that Jeremie guy."

"Then, he must go! Come on, climb on." – urged Pegasusmon.

_Half an hour before, with the Digidestined_

Tai and the others were heading the tower. He and Agumon were flying with William on his OverSkate. The giant sword wielder looked over his shoulder to meet Tai nervous gaze.

"Worried about your XANAfied friend, hu?" – he asked.

"No…I'm actually worried about my sister." – Tai replied.

"Your sister? You mean, Kari?"

"Yeah."

"I kinda know how you feel. I have a little cousin, Isabelle, but she's like a sister to me. She's only eleven and I haven't seen her ever since I returned to Kadic, this year." – said William. – "At the beginning, I was worried because I couldn't be around for her. Isabelle always wanted to be close by me. She saw me like her guardian and her hero. I was her best and only friend. She was heart-brokenwhenthey said I was going to be transferred to Kadic, but I told her she would have to move on."

"Does that mean she was burden to you?" – asked Tai, frowning.

"No way! Just let me finish. When I returned home for Christmas, she had learnt to take care of herself… a bit. She's more independent and even got a close circle of friends.

I'm just saying that without me around, for a while, she grew up. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't worry too much about your sister. Hasn't she dealt with evil digimon, like you guys told us? You can't be overprotective, man. She's already a big girl, but let her grow up even more." – William finished, giving a quick glance at the brunette. Those words had a deep impact on the older Googlehead.

"Yeah, you're right, I guess." - murmured Tai. – "I'm still worried about her, but…maybe I'm treating her like a child. She's not a little girl, anymore."

"That's exactly what I've been telling you, Tai." – muttered Agumon, behind Tai's back. – "But you didn't listen to me, did you?"

"Maybe it's because you don't have experience on this." – suggested William – "I mean, you have no sister, don't you?"

Agumon just shrugged and asked bluntly to change the subject:

"What am I supposed to do, once we get there? I can't armor-digivolve."

"Aelita has a plan in her mind. From what Izzi told her, you are one of the few digimon that can reach Mega level. Plus, fire is your element so you can defeat Jeremie easier than we. We only need to move him away from the tower." – explained William.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Jeremie gazed at the horizon. Nothing, absolutely nothing. That was confusing him. By now, the Digidestined must have found out that Ken Ichijouji was XANAfied, so they should be here. Unless Ichijouji managed to kill them. But, if that was true, Master XANA would have already dismissed them.

Then, a strange movement caught his attention. Floating serenely above the ground, a giant white bubble stood:

"Franz Hopper!" – Jeremie exclaimed. The enemy that Master XANA wanted dead the most. Franz Hopper quickly floated away from there.

"Stay here!" – the blond commanded to the Megatanks. Jeremie called for his skies and began pursuing Franz Hopper. The Bubble was fast, but the XANA Warrior was faster. Jeremie reached the fleeing bubble and raised his spikes, poking the creator of XANA.

"Life Drainer!" – however, the bubble immediately exploded. Jeremie stopped, puzzled.

"What the…a decoy! They made me abandon my post!"

"Hello, Jack Frost!" – complimented a voice behind him. Jeremie turned around only to see a yellow armored dinosaur looking at him.

"Mega Claw!" – attacked WarGreymon.

A little far away from there, the battle was going easy for the heroes. While they didn't know about WarGreymon, the fact that Jeremie hadn't return proved he could handle Icestein. While Ulrich and William blocked the Megatanks laser with their blades, Aelita, Flamedramon or Halsemon fired at the targets. Digmon was behind, guarding the children. The monsters were finished soon.

When the Digimon were about to demolish the tower, Aelita stopped them:

"Wait. I just realized something! This tower contains the data about ken, so if I hack into the interface, maybe I can find why XANA can control him."

"OK, but hurry up, Aelita." – said Yolei. The pinkette touched the tower and began to meditate.

_Meanwhile, at Izzi's_

"This better be fast. We don't know what Ken is doing." – said Izzi, receiving the data from Aelita.

"Speaking of which, I wonder where he is right now." – wondered Tentomon.

"**Over here, Binky-Boy!**" – the said Ken bellowed. He was standing outside of Izzi's window, with his hands and feet glued to the glass. Ken immediately ghosted though the window.

"Super Shocker!" – cried out Tentomon. Ken let the attack hit him, but wasn't affected at the very least.

"**I'll show you what real electricity is.**" – Ken raised his hands and began shocking both the Digidestined and his digimon.

"Neko Punch!" – Gatomon came inside the room, breaking the window in the process and punched Ken in the face. Kari and TK entered right after, dismounting Pegasusmon, who reversed into Patamon. Kari and TK tried to restrain Ken, but with no use. Izzi looked over the computer; the download was almost complete. Ken put the 3 rookies out cold and was strangling Kari and TK.

"Oh, no! Aelita, now!"

Back in the Digital World, the group heard Izzi's scream and Aelita wasted no time, firing and Energy Field, destroying the tower.

_In the next day_

The Digidestined were back in Izzi's room. Ken was kind of disturbed, while Yolei was by his side, comforting him. This time, Wormon was with him. The small green worm had been shocked when the others told him that his partner had been controlled.

"Guys, I finally realized why Ken was XANAfied and Davis wasn't. Ken doesn't have a DigiEgg, while Davis has 2. Apparently, XANA can only control Digidestined with no DigiEggs."

The group heard the news, silently. Cody approached Ken and looked him in the eyes. Then, he repeated the exam with Izzi.

"What?" – inquired both Izzi and Ken.

"Since both Izzi and Ken have no DigiEggs, we should check their eyes, each time we meet them. Just in case XANA tries something like this again." – Cody replied.

"Oh, Binky-boy…" – mumbled Ken. Everybody gazed at him, suspiciously. Ken smiled:

"Just kidding!"


	6. Ep 5 Picnic

**Episode 5: Picnic**

**In this Episode, the Lyoko Warriors won't show up. However, XANA will use one of his old tricks, against the group. **

**Let me remind you that whenever XANA, a Polymorphic Specter or a XANAfied person speaks with that weird electrical possessed voice, the lines are written in Bold.**

"We've brought food from my parents' grocery store." – said Yolei, holding two bags. Ken, Cody and her had one bag full of food on each hand. Yolei also had a laptop on her backpack**. **The junior Digidestined were planning another picnic to the Digital World, since XANA had been quite after possessing Ken. They were meeting in Kary's room, this time.

Ken prevented his partner from getting too close of the food.

"The last time you went on a picnic, you nearly exploded." – recalled Ken.

"It wasn't my fault those rice balls were so tasty." – countered the worm.

"Well, the last time we went on a picnic, Yolei and Mimi, Palmon and I were attacked by a couple of cockroach. No offense, Ken." – said Poromon. Yolei scowled at her partner for reminding her that day.

"None taken." – answered the boy. Yolei opened her laptop – "So, is everybody ready?"

However, the doorbell was heard and Kary went to get the door. She returned with an older pinkette girl, smiling.

"Mimi!" – Yolei stood up and hugged her idol.

"So, you're back? And just in time for our picnic!" – said Davis.

"Picnic? Another one?" – asked Mimi.

"Yeah, we're going to the Digital World for a picnic." – answered TK.

"You can come with us. The more the merrier." – said Cody, enthusiastically. Unfortunately, fate had different ideas. Kary's D-Terminal beeped. She opened and read a message from Izzy.

"Oh, no! XANA has activated a tower." – she said.

"Here we go again." – muttered DemiVeemon.

"XANA, what's that? A new pop star?" – asked Mimi.

"No time to explain. Let's go." - Cody held up and the 6 humans and 5 digimon were sucked into the lap top. They arrived at the same forest where the Digidestined made their first picnic. Izzy's voice sounded from the sky above them:

"_Guys, the tower south-east of your position._"

"Hello, Izzy!" – complimented Mimi, cheerfully.

"_Mimi? What are you doing there?_" – asked Izzy, bluntly, after recognizing the voice.

"I returned to Odaiba to visit the younger group and they invited me to their picnic." – she clarified.

"_Why didn't you tell me you were back? I…_" – Izzy paused. His next words sounded like confusion. – "_Guys, the Spire was shut down._"

"What?" – they all said in unison.

"For real?" – inquired Patamon.

"_Yes, as if XANA had called off his attack._ _And, you still remember what happened the last time we fought XANA had given up, don't you?" _– Izzy asked rhetorically.

"No." – Davis and Veemon answered goofily. Everybody, minus Mimi smacked their foreheads with a hand.

"Do the words '_XANAfied Ken_' ring a bell?" – said Kary.

"Oh, yeah."

"Guys, if we don't need to worry about the said tower, that means we can carry on with our picnic, right?" – Mimi inquired.

"_Well…Yeah, I guess. Have fun. I'll keep you posted._" – said Izzy before closing communications. As the group started walking, Gatomon could not avoid wondering:

"There's something fishy here…and it's not the good kind. Why would XANA just shut down a Spire that he had just activated?"

"Maybe Jeremie and his monsters asked for a day off, so XANA had no one to guard the tower." – said Davis. The others just sweatdropped.

"Davis, I hardly doubt that XANA would give a day off to his servants." – said Ken.

_Meanwhile, on XANA's secret hiding place_

"Master XANA." – called a voice. XANA turned around, facing his soldier, Jeremie.

"**What is it, now?**"

"The monsters and I have been wondering…could you give us a day off. I mean, sir, we've been fighting those new kids and their digimon ever since we got here, and we haven't had a single day to rest." – pleaded the XANA Warrior. – "So, could you give us just today to relax, master? I was planning to go to the Beach of File Island and relax a bit."

"**OK, fine…Besides, I don't even need any of you, today.**" – said XANA, expressionless. – "**But, you better be aware that this day-off will force you to say 'bye bye' to the raise I was planning to give you.**"

"What raise, master?" – inquired Jeremie, rhetorically. – "You never pay us, remember?"

"**Hum…Point taken.**"

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Izzy was looking at the keyboard, with his head resting on his hands. He gazed at the now turned off computer screen, somewhat disappointed. Tentomon came in and looked at his partner:

"What's wrong, Izzy?"

"It's Mimi. She came back." – replied the red-head.

"But that's good. So why the long face?"

"Mimi just showed up without telling me anything. Kary and the others were the first to know." – muttered Izzy. If Tentomon had lips, he would be smiling teasingly, by now.

"If you're so upset about Mimi ignoring you, then why did you ignore her, back on that Temple, when we were fighting Devimon?"

Izzy growled before answering.

"Because, back then things were different. I wasn't…" – he stopped talking, turning away from Tentomon, so that the insect would not see his now flushing face.

"Yes? You weren't _what_?" – questioned Tentomon. Izzy didn't responded, preferring to gaze at his keyboard.

"The truth, Izzy Izummi! Out with it!" – demanded the rookie. Izzy just muttered something like 'Bug Boy' and stormed off the room. Tentomon didn't go after him, but he shook his head, disappointed.

"Izzy, for a computer pro, you sure are as stubborn as a mule."

PARAGRAPH BREAK

"So, who is this XANA?" – questioned Mimi. The group was setting things up for the picnic. They were in a clearing of a forest, with a limpid lake close by.

"It's some super intelligent program that wants to take over our world. He's enemies with a bunch of other kids called the 'Lyoko Warriors'. They're helping us fighting XANA and his monsters." – said TK, laying a towel on the grass.

"And, XANA uses Control Spires to attack our world?" – asked the pinkette.

"Yeah, first he created some fire ghosts, then he took control over Ken." - said Davis, bluntly.

"Ken was taken over?" – she said silently. The indigo haired boy had gone with Yolei to get some water from the lake. – "So, XANA can control humans?"

"Yes and lots of other stuff, too. Well, at least according to Aelita. But, for a computer program, XANA is…weird." – said Gatomon, shrugging.

"How weird?" – the oldest girl asked.

"Well, he does have this strange personality. For a bad guy, he has created a few 'humorous' events." – said Kary. – "Like when he and TK had that strange conversation, while XANA was inside Ken."

"Kary, I don't think Ken would appreciate if you say 'inside Ken'." – said Wormmon. Ken and Yolei insisted that their partners stood with the others.

"Hey, Mimi, I just remembered something." – said Hawkmon. – "Where is Palmon?"

Mimi looked taken aback by that question, but she immediately recomposed herself.

"Oh, she's with my parents. She couldn't come. Palmon was a little sick." – the girl answered. – "Hum…I think I'm going to check on Yolei and Ken."

With that, Mimi walked into the direction the two of them had gone.

On the lake, Mimi was watching the two younger Digidestined, hidden on the bushes. The pair already had the bottles full of fresh water. They were sitting on the ground, watching the lake, peacefully, with Ken cuddling Yolei's air, gently.

A while later, Mimi returned to the group. Ken and Yolei, however, weren't with her.

"Where are they, Mimi?" – asked Kary. They were going to start serving the food. Mimi was grinning, with a victorious smirk.

"Yolei and Ken are having some 'quality time' together, so I think we shouldn't disturb them." – Mimi answered with a smile. Everybody was bewildered at the beginning, but gleeful looks appeared on their faces.

"AH! I knew something had happened on that cave. That's why Yolei wasn't mad at him after the return to the past." – said Davis. – "I can't wait to tease Ken about this!"

Davis grin was replaced by a shocked glared, along with the others, when they looked over Mimi's shoulder. Ken was carrying Yolei a picky back ride. They were both soakedand panting hard.

"Yolei! Ken! What happened?" – asked Cody. The group gathered around the two, worried about them.

"Something sneaked up behind us a tried to drown us. Yolei hit with her head on a rock. I didn't see what it was." – explained Ken, laying Yolei on the ground, kindly. The girl was awake, only dizzy.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." – Yolei assured.

"Good thing you had your knight in a shiny armor to protect you." – mocked Davis.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Meanwhile, at the File Island Beach, Jeremie was enjoying the sun, lying on a towel, with trunks and sunglasses. Most of the monsters, such as Mantas, Krabs, the Scyphozoa and Tarantulas were in the water. Several Kankrelats were gathered in groups building sand castles or sculptures. Megatanks were playing volleyball. How they could do that, if they had no hands was a mystery to everybody.

"I should have asked for a day off sooner." – the XANA Warrior took another swipe of the soda he had. As minutes passed by, Jeremie couldn't stop wondering:

"Hum…I have a feeling I've forgot something important. Something I should have done when I began tanning. Something about the sun and rimes with scream…" – the blond paused for a second. – "Oh, yeah, ice cream! That must be what I've forgot to bring with me. Oh, well."

While that, a couple of Tarantulas looked at human lying at the sun.

"Is he going to stand there, tanning all day?" – asked the first Tarantula.

"Maybe…I don't know…and I don't really care." – responded the other Tarantula.

"Come to think of it, I never saw him putting sun-cream on." – commented Tarantula#1.

"Are you saying he wants to get sun-burn?" – asked Tarantula#2, disbelieving.

"I'm saying he has _forgotten _the sun-cream." – corrected Tarantula#1. The two interlocutors gazed at Jeremie once again.

"Should we tell him about that?" – inquired Tarantula#1.

"No." – said Tarantula#2, snickering.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

The Digidestined were now having lunch. The tension caused by Yolei and Ken been almost drowned as gone. Well, almost; Wormmon and Hawkmon were now scanning their surroundings, like bodyguards.

"So, did Ken bowed to one knee and asked you to marry him, already?" – teased Kary. Yolei flushed bright red, before pouting. Ken managed to remain unfazed by this.

"Kary, give it a rest. I would expect this sort of thing from Davis, but not from you." – pouted Yolei.

"But, you're Kary's DNA digivolution partner, Yolei. You should have seen this coming." – said TK.

"So, Kenny, did you say all that cliché stuff of 'I love you' or did you just improvised?" – asked Davis, enjoying the situation. Ken didn't answer. He just kept eating his rice ball. – "Come on, don't be a spoiled sport, man."

"Davis, maybe you should stop teasing Ken." – advised Cody, seeing the fury on Ken's eyes, despite his face showed no anger.

"No way, lose. I've just began…"

"Davis, I wouldn't push it further, if I were you." – said TK, also sensing Ken was about to blow up. Not literally, of course.

"So, Ken did Yolei say…" – Davis was cut in, when Ken grabbed him by his neck, though he didn't squeezed it.

"Davis, I'm using all my self control to prevent myself from smothering you." – if looks could kill, Davis would be laying dead on the ground. The Googlehead got the picture.

"OK, OK, it won't happen again." – Everybody laughed at Davis' cowering under Ken's glare. Well, all except for Mimi, which didn't go unnoticed to Kary. The pink haired girl was looking at the ground, pondering on something.

"Mimi, is something wrong?" – Kary asked. Mimi looked up at her.

"Well…I…There's something you should know. But, in private." – said Mimi. Kary looked at their friends and then at Mimi.

"Gatomon, Mimi and I have something to talk. We'll be right back." – said Kary. Gatomon frowned.

"With that thing that attacked Yolei and Ken still around? Not a chance. I'm going, too!"

Kary gazed at Mimi. She just shrugged and the three went deeper into the forest, with Mimi leading. The other digidestined just kept talking.

"So, Mimi, what is what you want to tell me?" – asked Kary, once they were a little far from the others. Mimi had her back turned on her and Gatomon was checking the space carefully. When Mimi finally faced her, Kary screamed.

On the Digidestined's of Sincerity eyes, XANA's insignia was pulsing and bursting with power, along with the sound of pulsations.

_Back with Izzy…_

Izzy was looking at the afternoon sky. The sun was almost setting and the streets were slightly calm. The computer pro sighed, disappointed about the unfair of his life and the lack of backbone to make a move.

The digidestined looked at a puddle in front of him and eyes his own reflection:

'_Guess now it's only me and you._' – he muttered, mentally.

His thoughts were altered by a pair of hands that closed his eyes and a soft voice whispering on his ear.

"Picaboo! Guess who?"

"Mimi!" – the said person took their hands of Izzy's eyes.

"And don't forget about me." – said another voice, much young sounding. Izzy turned around only to gap at the sight of the pink-haired digidestined and her partner. Without waiting for the boy to reply, Mimi peeked him in a cheek, giggling. That, however, went unnoticed to Izzy.

"Mimi, what are you doing here? And where did Palmon came from?"

The girl and the plant digimon were puzzled by Izzy's questions.

"What are you talking about Izzy? Have you spent too many hours in front of your computer?" – inquired Palmon.

"Have you returned from the picnic, already?"

"What picnic?" – asked Mimi. Izzy frowned.

"The picnic you just had with Kary and the others." – that only made the two girls (the real girl and the digimon girl) even more confused. Izzy looked down and pondered for a bit. The answer came into his mind like a thunder had stroke him! Giving no explanation, Izzy quickly grabbed Mimi by her hand and ran back to his apartment with Palmon right behind them.

"Wow! Izzy, what…" – Mimi began but Izzy cut her short.

"No time to explain! The others might…no, the others _are_ in danger!"

"Hey, wait up!" – cried Palmon. Later, they were at Izzy's. He had explained who XANA was, the Lyoko Warriors and what had the evil multi-agent system plotted now.

"So… this _ZENA_ has made a _Polyphormic_ Clone of _me _and sent it to you guys, so that you would believe it was _me_." – said Mimi, when Izzy was trying to contact the others.

"Kind of like Control Spire Digimon." – pointed out Palmon.

"Yeah, but it's pronounced _XANA _and _Polymorphic_." – corrected Izzy.

"That's what I said: ZENA." – retorted Mimi.

"No, you said _ZENA_. His name is XANA." – replied Izzy. Mimi opened her mouth to reply back, but Izzy silenced her.

"OK, enough! This is time-wasting. Plus, I think Davis and Veemon did this joke already on **Episode 2**." – Izzy eyes went wide when he realized what he just said. – "Oops!"

**!FOURTH WALL BREAKAGE ALERT!**

**(A.N.: Due to the FOURTH WALL BREAKAGE that Izzy caused, I prefer to show this little documentary** **about lobsters, until I fix the damage to dealt to the fourth wall. can return to the story:**

_Lobsters are economically important as seafood, forming the basis of a global industry that nets more than US$1 billion annually._

_Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most often associated with the name._

_Recent research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age. In fact, older lobsters are more fertile than younger lobsters._

_Lobsters can scavenge. However, they most commonly eat living prey such as mussels, crabs, clams, sea urchins and fish. As well as __other lobsters__ of the same species. However, they only follow cannibalism when they are captive in tanks._

_Another interesting fact about lobsters is that their teeth are on their mouths._

**(A.N.: Now back to the story!)**

"Kary!" – TK cried out. The Digidestined were now running to where Kary and Mimi went. What they found left them astonished:

"Mimi!" – Yolei screamed got 'Mimi's' attention, who stopped hitting Kary with lightning. TK launched at the attacker, pushing her into a tree. XANA-Mimi began to shake, with pixalizing all over her, unable to move. TK then attended to Kary, while Cody and Armadillomon went to Gatomon.

"What has gotten into Mimi?" – said Davis, looking at the pixalizing Polymorphic Specter.

"_No, not Mimi!"_ – announced a voice from the sky.

"Izzy!" – they all shouted.

"_It's one of XANA's creatures, a Polymorphic Specter. It can change her appearance at will."_

"So, the tower that was activated this morning…" – began Ken.

"Was activated to create _her_. When you went to the Digital World, the tower was no longer necessary." – concluded Izzy.

"But, how do you know this _isn't _the real Mimi?" – asked Hawkmon, pointing to the still recovering Polymorph. TK helped Kary standing up and helped her standing away from XANA-Mimi.

"_Because the real Mimi is here with me._" – answered Izzy. – "_Now, watch out! XANA_-_Mimi is standing up!_"

As Izzy said that XANA-Mimi got back on her feet and gazed rather angrily at the DigiDestined. She took a fighting position, waiting for the enemy to make the first move.

_Veemon armor-digivolve to…Flamedramon, the fire of courage_

_Hawkmon armor-digivolve to…Shurimon, the samurai of sincerity_

_Armadillomon armor-digivolve to…Digmon, the drill of knowledge_

_Patamon armor-digivolve to…Pegasusmon, the flying hope_

Gatomon was still too weak to digivolve. Shurimon went first, slashing at XANA-Mimi with the giant shuriken on his back:

"Double Star!" – however, XANA-Mimi grabbed the spinning shuriken and electrified it, reducing it to data, that disappeared into thin air.

"Hey, no fair!" – complained Shurimon. The other digimon attacked, as well.

"**All is fair, Binky-boy.**" – retorted XANA-Mimi.

"Flaming Fist!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Equis Beam!" – XANA-Mimi body began to glow with a red aura of her own power. The wave of red energy was enough to consume their attacks. XANA-Mimi unleashed a second wave to knock them away. The Digimon de-digivolved immediately.

"Oh, man! That hurts!" – whined Patamon. The digidestined got to their Digimon, checking if they were OK. XANA-Mimi walked calmly to her fallen enemies and the Digidestined, ready to eliminate them.

"Flower Cannon!" – a female voice announced. XANA-Mimi had to jump back to avoid being fry by the green laser shot. Mimi, Izzy and Lilimon just arrived at the party.

"The cavalry is finally here!" – said Davis, grinning.

"Hey, guys, what took you so long?" – asked Yolei. – "And where is Tentomon?"

"When I got home, Tentomon wasn't there." – explained Izzy. Meanwhile, XANA-Mimi picked herself up and ran away. Lilimon flew after her:

"Nobody impersonates my partner and gets away with it!" – the flower Ultimate yelled. Mimi ran after her digimon.

"Guys, stay here, in case she returns. Your digimon are still too beaten up." – bellowed Izzy, running after Mimi. Though the girl and digimon had already a huge lead.

"Lilimon…wait up!" – said Mimi. Lilimon had to slow down, remembering humans couldn't fly on their own.

"Sorry, Mimi." – apologized the plant digimon, stopping so Mimi could catch up with her. A scream was heard from behind them. It was a boy's scream and it belonged to:

"IZZY!" – screamed Mimi, running back. This time, Lilimon was the one having problems to catch with someone.

"Mimi, wait up!" – but the girl didn't listen to her. Mimi kept running to where the scream came from. Soon enough, they met not one, but _two Izzy Izumis. _XANA-Mimi had confronted Izzy and transformed into a replica of him.

"Great, now which one is the real Izzy?" – said Lilimon.

"I'm the real Izzy." – said Izzy #1.

"No, he's lying. He is XANA." – said Izzy #2.

**(A.N.: Despite XANA-Mimi has changed appearance, she still has the same name, because Mimi was the primary target she had to transform.)**

Mimi looked from one Izzy to another, not knowing what which one to choose:

"That's absurd, XANA." – said Izzy #1, crossing his arms. Izzy #2 gazed at Mimi:

"Mimi, look into my eyes." – pleaded Izzy #2 – "I'm the real Izzy, I can prove it with this: **I love you**."

Those words seemed to taken Mimi aback. Lilimon just stood there, silent, with her cannon ready to fire. The other Izzy was astonished, incapable of saying a single word. Mimi took a few steps towards Izzy #2 and placed a hand on his cheek, tenderly.

"Mimi, wait, I'm the real one!" – claimed the other Izzy, his voice breaking. The girl did the unexpected: Mimi kneed Izzy #2 on his most sensitive area. The red-head number 2 fell on his back, in pain with static all over his body. That was all Lilimon need to know:

"Flower Cannon!" – the Ultimate fired at the downed Polymorphic, who was vaporized, without leaving a trace of its existence. Izzy (the real one, obviously) glared at the burned dirt where the now dead XANA-Mimi once stood. He looked up at Mimi:

"How did you know he was the specter?"

"I didn't know." – she answered, with a smile. – "I just remembered what you said about the specters pixalizing when they're attacked, so I figured a painful strike would make that happen."

Izzy gulped at this. Mimi giggled:

"Just kidding. I knew you were the real one, because I know the real Izzy Izumi would never make the love confession I always wanted to hear from him, like that." – she finished with a smirk. Izzy just blushed awkwardly.

Later, Mimi, Izzy and Palmon returned to the group. Half an hour later, they were having the picnic, but now with three new guests: Mimi, Palmon and Izzy. They past the time telling what happened, during the pursue to XANA-Mimi.

"So, how did you know which Izzy was the real one?" – inquired TK. Izzy almost choked on his drink. He looked at Mimi by the corner of his eye:

"Female intuition!" – she answered, grinning.

_Meanwhile, with Jeremie…_

It was the sunset, at the File Island and Jeremie just stood up from his towel.

"Well, it was great day off, but it's time to…" – Jeremie stopped his speech when he felt a strange smell in the air. – "It smells like something is burning."

The XANA Warrior moved and felt a burning feeling all over his skin. He looked down at his arms and then at his thorax. Red, his all skin was red.

"Oh, just great. Now I'll have call in sick, tomorrow. Master XANA won't be pleased." – muttered Jeremie.

_Now, back with XANA…_

"**Blast, those DorkDestined just managed to defeat XANA-Mimi and obliterate my master-plan.**" – XANA groaned in anger.

The multi-agent system let out a few sighs, trying to calm himself down. When his voice didn't sound like he was about to murder someone, he uttered:

"**Well, I'll just have to try again tomorrow. But, if, for some reason, Jeremie cannot fight, tomorrow, I'll scream.**"


	7. Ep 6 Killer Siblings

**Episode 6: Killer Siblings**

**Let me remind you that whenever XANA, a Polymorphic Specter or a XANAfied person speaks with that weird electrical possessed voice, the lines are written in Bold.**

**Today, XANA will reveal a shocking truth to TK. What's more both sides gain new weapons.**

"Kids, you better hurry to school!" – called Mrs. Kamya from the kitchen. The woman left the house, then. – "I going to the grocery store."

"Tai, lets move before we're late to school." – said Kari, by the door, outside the bed-room. The Kamya siblings were getting ready to another day of school. Agumon was back in the Digital World, while Gatomon was hiding inside Kari's backpack. Tai was finishing putting his books on his book bag.

"We need to find a better way of transport, Kari." – Gatomon's muffled voice complained from inside the pack.

"OK, OK. I'm almost…Hey, wha…" – Tai voiced filled with surprise gave place to a scream of agony. Gatomon jumped out of the backpack, ready to fight.

"Tai? What?" – Kari urged into the room, to see Tai getting back on his feet. – "Are you alright?"

"**I've never felt this good, **_**sister**_**.**" – answered Tai, facing her. Kari gasped; her brother's eyes had the most dangerous sign on them. Tai wasted no time and fired electricity from his fingers, making Kari scream.

"Neko Punch!" – Gatomon attacked Tai with all her might, making him fall behind, his body shaking with pixalizing like one of XANA's specters.

"You shouldn't have hurt him too much." – yelped Kari, recovering from the shocking encounter.

"He'll live. We've to go to get to the Digital World!" – said Gatomon. Kari got her D-3.

_Gatomon armor-digivolve too…Nefertimon, the angel of light_

The armor-digivolved champion flew out of the apartment, with Kari riding her. Tai recovered and stood up; holding on Nefertimon's left leg, just before she took off.

"**You won't get rid of me **_**that**_** easily.**" – the XANAfied brunette grunted.

"Is that so, stowaway?" – retorted Nefertimon. – "Queen's Paw!"

The attack didn't injure Tai, but he had to drop Nefertimon, to avoid having his hands burnt. Nefertimon had flown low enough for Tai to land safely.

"This is your stop, XANA." – said Kari, while Nefertimon flew higher, when Tai was no longer on her tail (not literally).

"**I'll find you, Binky-boy…er, girl!**" – Tai looked at his surroundings and saw a car parked right at his left. A smirk came into his facial features:

"**Who needs a stinking license?**"

_On another apartment, another younger sibling…_

"So, TK, is your mother OK?" – asked Mr. Takaishi, TK's dad. The younger blond just nodded. TK was paying a little visit to his big brother and father, before going to school. Patamon had chosen to wait outside.

"Hey, TK how are things going with Kari?" – asked Matt, with a teasing smile. TK blushed and turned his back, not wanting his dad and brother to see his flushing face.

"OK, I better get going before classes start." – TK said, getting his book back, heading to the exit of the apartment.

"OK, it was nice to see you, kiddo." – said Mr. Takaishi.

"Give Kari a kiss, for me." – teased Matt. TK blushed even deeper.

"And, give Sora a kiss, for me, bro." - countered TK. Matt, however was affected by this, at all. His only response was:

"Kay."

'_Maybe this doesn't work with older siblings or people with assumed relationships'_ – wondered TK, closing the door behind him.

"So, TK, ready for another day of school, close by Kari?" – grinned Patamon.

"Oh, man! Not you too." - but, before he could close completely the door, an ear-piercing scream from Matt stopped him. TK reopened the door and got back into the living room, this time with Patamon flying by his side.

"Dad!" – TK looked at his father; the man was lying on the floor, unconscious. Matt was glaring at him, with sparks on his hand. – "Matt!"

Matt faced his brother. TK mentally swore; on his big brother's eyes, the Eye of XANA was glowing and the sound of pulsations was coming from Matt's body.

"Oh, shoot!" – said TK – "What have you done to my father, XANA?"

"**No, Takeru Takaishi…**" – XANA said, through Matt. – "**This man is not your father.**"

"What? Then, who is my father?" – inquired TK.

"Don't listen to him, TK!" – said Patamon.

"**I AM YOUR FATHER!**" – revealed XANA.

"NOOOOOOO!" – screamed TK, shocked by that revelation. – "Wait, seriously?"

"**No.**" – answered the XANAfied blond. Patamon wasted no time in attacking:

"Boom Bubble!" – that attack only worked for it caught Matt unexpectedly. The older blond fell, half-dizzy.

"Come on! Let's go!" – TK broke into a run out of the apartment, with Patamon flying right behind him. He hated leaving is unconscious father behind, but he knew XANA only wanted him.

_Meanwhile, thousands of miles away…_

"Hey, guys! Guess what?" – said Odd, joining the others on the cafeteria for dinner, with a grin on his face.

"You're going out with Melanie, again?" – mumbled William.

"_Ná_, this is way more exciting." – replied Odd.

"You decided to cut your hair?" – suggested Ulrich.

"_Ná_, this is way more exciting."

"You're finally going to tell us why you have that purple stain on your hair?" – betted William.

"_Ná_, this is way more exciting."

"You're going to train Kiwi to fight on Lyoko?" – said Aelita.

"_Ná_, this is way more exciting."

"You found out that XANA has a son?" – asked Ulrich.

"Hum…well, maybe not _that _exciting." – Odd mumbled. His grin grew wider and he took to pieces of paper from his pocket and showed them on his friends' faces – "Dah dah dah! I just won two tickets to India, on a raffle!"

"And, who are you taking?" – inquired Aelita.

"Isn't it obvious? The girl that has stolen my heart…" – Odd answered in a fake sappy romantic fashion.

"Kiwi…" – suggested William. The group, minus Odd, burst out laughing. Odd just gave William a hard glare.

"You know, Will, I thought you were cool."

"And, you were right: I _am _cool." - countered William. Odd ignored him and continued eating his mass potatoes, hungrily.

"Aelita, what have you been doing all of these afternoons, in the lab?" – inquired Yumi, matter-of-factly. The pinkette unleashed a tired and frustrated sigh.

"I've been trying to find a connection, a pattern, of how XANA keeps his control over Jeremie. Up to now, no luck." – the group felt silent until a beeping alarm was heard. Aelita took her lap top of her back pack and opened it.

"XANA is back. Control Spire activated on a desert of the north hemisphere of the Digital World. According with the SuperScan, XANA is controlling 2 people." – informed Aelita, whispering, so the other students would hear.

"Way to ruin my dinner!" – muttered Odd.

"Should we call Yumi?" – asked William, standing up with his tray.

"No, she's at this fancy restaurant with her family. She won't be able to sneak around." – said Ulrich. William groaned at the fact that Yumi had told Ulrich where she was going but not to him.

"Come on, lets go to the factory. I'll contact Izzy." – said Aelita.

_Back with our other heroes…_

"The others are late." – Ken commented, with Wormmon stuffed on his backpack. He, Cody, Yolei and Davis were waiting at the school's gate. Most of the other students were already in. The bell rang and everyone began entering the building, save for the Digidestined.

"TK told me he was stop at his dad's house, to see Matt, but he should be here, by now." – said Cody.

"Maybe they're on a date?" – suggested Yolei with a knowing smirk, giving a sideways look at Davis. The googlehead made an annoyed sound. A voice coming from above of them called out:

"Guys!" – the boys looked up, only to meet Kari and TK, riding on their respective armor-digivolved partners' back.

"I knew they were together." – said Yolei.

"TK and Kari? What's the matter? You now want to fly to school, now?" – asked Upamon, peeking out of Cody's backpack.

"XANA is attacking! He's taken control over Matt and Tai." – said TK, as the 2 digimon landed and de-digivolved.

"Tai? Usually, I would think this is the excuse to ditch school, but…" – Davis didn't finish the phrase: Tai was his idol. To think he had changed sides, though not on his free will…

Yolei's D-Terminal beeped.

"Izzy says that Aelita has detected a tower. Wait until he hears Tai and Matt went to the dark side." – commented Yolei, sending an e-mail back to Izzy, telling him who the targets of the tower were.

"We need to get to the compu…" – Ken stopped when he spotted a car going full speed towards them. It was Tai!

"Imminent Impact!" – shrieked Yolei. The group managed to jump out of the way, and the car hit the wall of the school.

"My brother!" – shrieked Kari, fearing for Tai's life. However, the possessed brunette jumped out of the vehicle, opening a hole in the roof and landing on the road, making the floor beneath him to crack. People began to flee the area. Two SWAT cars arrived into the scene.

"Don't move!"

"Put your hands in the air!"

"Don't hurt him!" – begged Kari.

"**OK, I surrender, Binky-boys.**" – Tai lazily put his hands up, but as he did so, electricity was fired from his fingertips, attacking the police officers, putting them out cold.

"Oh, great. Tai is definitively going to jail, after this." – Gatomon muttered, standing between Kari and Tai. The approaching XANAfied Digidestined prepared another electric strike. Demiveemon and the other In-training immediately digivolved into rookies.

"Neko punch!"

"V-head but!"

"Sticky Net!"

"Feather Strike!"

"Diamond Shell!"

"Boom Bubble!"

Tai just stood there, allowing the attacks to hit him. He grinned as the assaults were proven futile.

"**That the best you got?**" – he taunted.

"Well, if that's what you want...Kari?" – Gatomon said, looking at her partner. The girl was hesitating and so was Davis. From all the 2nd generation of Digidestined, Kari and Davis were the closest to Tai.

"No, not you, Gatomon." – replied Kari.

"OK, fine. But don't hurt him." – said Yolei.

"No need to say that." – said Armadillomon.

_Hawkmon armor-digivolve to…Shurimon, the samurai of sincerity_

_Armadillomon armor-digivolve to…Digmon, the drill of knowledge_

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon_

The Angel champion stood by the children, guarding them, while the two armored digimon were in direct combat with Tai. Shurimon tried using his tendrils limbs and wrapped them around Tai. He let himself get caught, deliberately and smirked

"**Is that the best you can do?**" – Tai sent and electric shock through his own body, electrifying Shurimon, as well.

"Ouch!" – the ninja digimon moaned, letting Tai go. – "That was shocking."

"Rock Cracking!" – Digmon created a smaller, less deep, crack in the ground beneath Tai. The human jumped high above them and landed right on Digmon, like a rocket.

"Digmon!" – Cody cried. When the dust settled, Digmon was an unconscious Armadillomon, with Tai stepping on his back. Shurimon launched his four hands-shurikens at the human:

"Cranium Hill-drop!" **(I don't know the real name of that attack. Sorry!)**

However, the ninja digimon felt an agonizing pain. Someone had shocked him and it hadn't been Tai. Shurimon de-digivolved into a shaking Hawkmon. Yolei ran to her injured partner. They all looked around and saw Matt, with his hand still up, pointing to where Shurimon had been. No prices guessing who attacked the ninja.

"Oh, great! We couldn't deal with one, but now we have to deal with the both of them." – muttered TK. Angemon stood between the children and the approaching enemies. The maniac smiles on their faces and the increasing sound of pulsations wasn't exactly encouraging the champion. Angemon was sure that, if he didn't need to be careful not to hurt them, he could easily defeat them. XANA had played a great move.

Matt and Tai prepared another electric attack. Angemon stood straight, ready to take the impact, for his 'Hand of Fate' could even kill them. However, the blow never came. To everybody's amazement, a white blinding light came out of Cody's D-3.

When it was over, Angemon was Patamon again and Tai and Matt were out cold, lying on the ground. TK and Kari walked over to see if they were alright, but Ken stopped them:

"I know you're worried about them, but don't forget they might still be possessed. We don't know what that light was or what it did."

"_Then let me explain._" – said a voice coming from the D-Terminals. They all opened their devices and were astonished to see a window with Izzy's face on it. It was like with a chat through webcams:

"Izzy, how come…" – asked Yolei.

"_Another one of the SuperComputer programs. Now, we can send video messages via D-Terminals. Plus, that light was an explosion of an Anti-XANA bomb Belpois had invented two years ago_ **(Watch Episode "Ultimatum", from Code Lyoko)**. _Aelita was activated a tower, with the Skidbladnir and used it to trigger the detonation to put Tai and Matt out of combat. But, it won't last long. You must come to the Computer Room, now!_" – Izzy said.

"And, what if they wake up, before we destroy the tower?" – inquired Kari.

"_No problem. The Skidbladnir had some prodigious abilities. Odd and William will distract them_. _Our Digimon's attacks are better at demolishing Control Spires._"

"What? How?" – as if the Universe itself answered Davis question, the energy balls formed in front of them and a 1/3 second later, William and Odd were there, Teleported via the Skidbladnir, with their Lyoko uniforms.

"Wow! Neat trick!" – complimented DemiVeemon. Matt began to stir and his eyes opened, showing XANA's insignia, again.

"OK! You better go, now." – said Odd, preparing his arrow launcher. – "By the way, Kari, Yolei, does any of you wanna go to India, with me?"

But the girls were already out of ear-shot.

_Later, in the Digital World…_

"_Ulrich and Aelita have to stay guarding the Skidbladnir. They say they're sorry for not been able to help." _– Izzy said, back in the real world. The Digidestined were already in the same desert of Digital World where Ken's base had crash-landed. They were all riding on their armored digimon's backs, safe for ken who was riding with TK and Cody with Yolei.

"No problem." – said Davis. – "We can deal with XANA, here."

"_The tower should be West of your position, but…there's something guarding it. I don't know what it is, but I know it's not Belpois." – _Izzy informed. – "_Be careful, guys._"

Izzy's words were proven right. When the group arrived at the spot, a giant black monster, the size of a Mamothmon was guarding it. It looked like a black cross between a lobster and a scorpion. It had no facial features, only the Eye of XANA making up for the lack of a face. Two lobster antennas were raised up, menacingly. Instead of two, the monster had four pincers! The upper pincers were bigger and seemed like lobster' pincers and the lower pincers were smaller and could belong to a scorpion. And, to top it all, the tail was a scorpion's tail, with a deadly stinger. The creature roared with a war cry, when the enemies arrived.

"You were right, Izzy. XANA has been busy. I don't recall Aelita and the others telling us about that monster." – said Ken.

"This thing is probably as mean as it is ugly." – Yolei mumbled. Armadillomon armor-digivolved to Digmon. Wormmon stood by Ken's side, frustrated for not been able to help.

"If only I could armor-digivolve." – the small worm muttered.

"Gold rush!"

"Tempest Wing!"

"Fire Knuckle!" – the new monster didn't even tried to dodge the triple attack. He allowed them to hit him, suffering no damage at all.

"Houston, we have a problem." – said Flamedramon.

"Guys, his symbol it's his weakest spot." – cried out Kari. Now, it was XANA's new pet's move. From the stinger, the monster began shooting his own laser, firing continuously at the digimon. Digmon, who wasn't exactly fast, was shot and thrown away like a rag doll.

"Digmon, no!" – Cody cried out, running to his downed partner. Fortunately, the scorpion had no interest in finishing off a defeated enemy. He turned his attention back to the remaining foes. The scorpion-lobsters-thing was giving them no rest. He kept firing at the four digimon.

"At this point, we'll never get rid of him." – Halsemon muttered. – "Tempest Wing!"

The attack failed, as the monster shielded his face with his upper pincers. He then shot double lasers from his lower pincers and hit Halsemon, putting out of combat, as well.

"Hawkmon! Are you alright?" – cried out Yolei.

"Things aren't going well. I just hope the others are going better than us." – muttered TK.

_Meanwhile, Odd and William…_

"Laser Arrow!" – Odd shouted, knocking Matt down, again.

"This is almost too easy." – William bragged. He used his sword to block Tai's punch, making the brunette's fist hurt. The fight was going smoothly for the good guys. Each time Matt and Tai got back on their feet, Odd and William managed to knock them down, but never hurting them.

"Why don't you give up, XANA? You can't win" – Odd asked, with a mocking smile to both possessed digidestined.

"**We'll see about that…right now.**" – replied Matt, smirking at the two last words he had said. Odd and William glanced confused.

"Wha…" – asked William, been immediately de-Teleported as well as Odd, before he realized what was happening.

Back in the Digital World, Jeremie smirked at the now destroyed green-activated Control Spire. XANA had created a 2nd scorpion-lobster monster to help him defeat Aelita and Ulrich. It was too easy! After that, he destroyed the Control Spire in which the Skid was stationed, de-Teleporting Odd and William back into the Skid.

The blond smirked as the two boys re-appeared on the ship, unconscious. He took note that Yumi was with them.

"Maybe she didn't join the party, today." – Jeremie mumbled as he began firing his freezing rays at the Skid. The scorpion was assisting him on his endeavor, using his three lasers. For now, the Skid was protected by its energy shield, but it wouldn't last forever…

_Back on Earth…_

"Guys, you better hurry up! I've lost contact with Odd and William." – Izzy urged. The sliding door was opened by two crazy looking boys.

"**Merry Christmas, Izzy! It's time to die.**" – whispered a voice coming from a certain blond boy. Izzy looked at the newcomers: Tai and Matt were looking at him with a killing desire on their eyes. Matt shot an electric ray at Izzy knocking him out of the chair. Tai immediately sat and began typing furiously.

"What are you doing?" – questioned Izzy.

"**Lowering the Skidbladnir's defenses, to make things easier for Jeremie. Soon, Aelita and the other brats won't be a threat to me…**" – said Tai, without taking his eyes of the screen. – "**…and neither will those Dorkdestined.**"

"**Though, if I were you, I would be more concerned about myself.**" – Matt whispered, with grin that made no doubt he was going to kill him slowly. Matt grabbed Izzy by his neck and electrified him, then throwing him into a wall.

_Now, the Digidestined…_

"Nefertimon, you and Pegasusmon have to hold in, or he will always use his pincers as shields." – TK cried out. If only they could DNA Digivolve, but with a Control Spire this close, that was impossible.

"Golden Noose!" – the rope of yellow light tied up the monsters pincers, rendering them paralyzed and impossible to be used to shield the symbol on his face.

"You go, guys! Those two make a great team." – Kari complimented her and TK's digimon.

"Always did." – agreed TK. Davis gave them a sideways look; he felt jealous, as usual. But, this time and more recently, he felt more sad than jealous.

"Now, it's my turn. Fire Rocket!" – Flamedramon shouted, aiming for the Eye of XANA. However, when the blow was about to be dealt, the monster break the Golden Noose and blocked the attack.

Nevertheless, that turned in favor to the Digidestined. Despite having saved himself, the strike made the monster trip, crushing the base of the Control Spire, demolishing the red-glowing dark tower. The monster was left lying on his back, unable to stand up. The heroes sweatdropped at this:

"Talk about dumb luck." – snickered Davis.

_Back with poor beaten up Izzy…_

Izzy was suffocating on Matt's grasp. The blond was tightening his grip on the red-head's neck. What Izzy didn't know was if Matt planed to suffocate him or just break his neck. However, he would never know, for Matt dropped him for no reason at all. Izzy recovered his breath and looked around. Matt was out cold in the floor and Tai was unconscious on the computer chair.

"About time!" – Izzy mumbled, limping to the computer with a broken leg. XANA had dragged out the torture for a good time, before eliminating Izzy. He moved Tai away and sat. – "Great job, guys, but the Skidbladnir is been attacked. Odd and William are still unconscious."

"_XANA never gives us a break. It's always so much destruction, so little time._" – complained Yolei. Kari and TK ridded on their respective digimon, Flamedramon reverted back to Veemon and armor-digivolved into Raidramon. Wormmon digivolved into Stingmon, who carried Ken, Yolei, Cody and the last two digimon.

"_Is Tai alright?_" – inquired Kari, during the journey.

"_And Matt?_"

"No worries. They're both out cold, but fine. I just checked they're no longer XANAfied." – assured Izzy. Just then, Aelita's voice was heard:

"_Guys, the Skid is in a large canyon in the middle of the desert, south of your position. There's a new monster, a giant lobster-scorpion-alike. And he brought Jeremie with him. That monster beat me and Ulrich in less than 15 minutes."_

"_Oh Great! More sea food and Belpois is the lemon_" – Davis muttered.

"_Actually, scorpions are not crustaceous, they're arachnids._" – corrected Ken.

Soon enough, they arrived at the spot. The Skid's shield was almost used out, but for now, the monster was busy dealing with William. Jeremie was fighting Odd, while William was dealing with the new monster. Neither Lyoko Warrior was having any success.

"Mind if we join the party?" – asked Stingmon.

"About time you guys showed up. This Lobscion is turning into a real pain." – Odd cried out, dodging another freezing ray from Jeremie. – "By the way, anyone wants to go to India with me?"

"Lobscion? That's the best you can come up with?" – William rolled his eyes.

The digimon all got to their champion forms.

_Ex-Veemon…Stingmon…DNA Digivolve to…Paildramon_

_Aquilamon…Gatomon…DNA Digivolve to…Silphymon_

_Angemon…Ankylomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon_

The three Ultimates joined the Lyoko Warriors. Jeremie groaned, irritated by the Digimon showing up:

"How many times do you digi-pets have to barge in and wreck Master XANA's plans?"

"Enough times until we beat his and your sorry butts." – answered Silphymon. She joined Odd against the XANA Warrior. Paildramon and Shakkoumon went to help William. – "Static Force!"

"Laser Arrow!"

Jeremie managed to block the double attack, but the impact shoved him back.

"That will change nothing!" – Jeremie materialized his skiers, sliding around his enemies. He fired two freezing rays from his spikes, trying to frozen the human and the Ultimate.

"Astral Laser!" – Silphymon created a shield-like aura, surrounding her and Odd, protecting them from the icing attack.

Meanwhile, Paildramon, Shakkoumon and William were attacking the monster continuously.

"Justice Beam!"

"Desperato Blaster!"

"Energy Disk!" – the three attacks together hit and destroyed the stinger. The monster grunted, but it seemed more in fury of losing a weapon than in pain. A couple of armor-digivolved digimon might be no match for one these new Lobscions, but three Ultimates is a different story.

"Cable Catchers!" – Paildramon used his finger like cables to immobilize the pincers of the Lobscion. Unlike what happened with the Golden Noose, the monster couldn't break the cables. William jumped into the Lobscion's head and stabbed right into the symbol. The monster exploded and the Digidestined and humans in both computer rooms cheered.

Jeremie gazed at the fallen creature. Now he has been left dealing with three Ultimates and two Lyoko Warriors. The outcome of the fight was obvious. He wasn't a coward, but he knew a lost cause, when he saw one.

"We'll meet again." – he said, sliding away, full speed, out of there. The heroes didn't even bothered go after him.

_Back on Earth, with the Digidestined…_

Odd and William had already returned to Lyoko, with the Skidbladnir. Aelita was now talking to Izzy, through their computers, on the computer room. The younger Digidestined were also there, along with Tai and Matt. The two last were quite astonished to learn they had been XANAfied.

"Man, it's Devimon's black gears all over again. Only in human style, now." – commented Tai.

"Izzy, sorry about…" – Matt didn't finish his apology, only giving a glared at Izzy's foot and other wounds.

"No problem. After a return to the past, I'll be fine." – said Izzy.

"Return to the past?" – asked Matt and Tai.

"_The SuperComputer has the power to reverse time in 24 hours, to undo the damage done by XANA."_ – informed Aelita through a graphic window.

"Prodigious!" – exclaimed Tai. Izzy glared strangely at the brunette. Everybody looked slightly amused at the event.

"_Tai, Matt_" – Aelita called. The two looked at her. – "_Maybe you two should have your partners around more often. And, same goes to Izzy, Ken and the rest of the 1st generation of Digidestined. Since you have no Digieggs, you can't be immune to XANA's control."_

"Ok, but the main problem is this new monster." – said Izzy.

"No problem, we beat the 2nd Lobscion." – replied Davis. Ken, however, shook his head.

"Only because he had two ultimates against him. If there's an activated Spire around, Champion and Ultimate levels are off limits."

"_That's right_. _That's why we need to find a way to help you digivolve, even with a Control Spire around._" – said Aelita. – "_But for that, I'll need all the data about Digivolution and the Control Spires' function that you can supply._"

"OK, it's computer work time. We better get out of here." – mumbled TK.

"_Hey, guys!_" – Odd' spoke up, having put himself in front of the webcam. – "_Does anyone wants to go to India with me?_"

_With the Lyoko Warriors, next day…_

"Someone has woken up on the wrong side of the bed." – mumbled Ulrich, spotting Odd carrying his tray, frowning. He sat on their usual table, without saying 'good morning'.

"So…did the girl you invited to go to India dump you?" – asked Aelita, after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence.

"No, but you're close." – Odd muttered, handing her the tickets. – "Here you can have them. I went to the airport and someone was _kind_ enough to threat arrest me for having forger tickets with me."

The rest of the group snickered, but stopped when they saw Odd's glare. Unbeknownst to them, XANA was spying the all conversation. He snickered, silently, as well.

"**I knew giving Odd those forger tickets was the best prank ever!**" – XANA murmured, amused.

* * *

><p>DELETED SCENES:<p>

The Lobscion was defeat and Belpois had just fled. Kari hugged TK, happy for her brother had been saved. TK returned the hug. Davis saw this and turned away, not wanting anybody to see his face marked with envy and melancholy. A hand touched his shoulder. He looked back and saw William. He had a monotonous glare.

"You like Kari." – the giant sword wielder said. It wasn't a question. Davis just nodded, glaring at the others, who were now cheering their victory.

"You know, I have the same problem. I really like Yumi, but she loves Ulrich." – William couldn't avoid pronouncing Ulrich's name with some bitterness, despite he and the samurai had come to a truce, since they were a team. – "I've always wondered what does she sees in Ulrich. He seems to care a lot about her, but I like her, too. Maybe she doesn't like my sometimes, show-off attitude."

William let out a tired sigh.

"Recently, I settled to try and forget her and move on. It's not easy, but there's lots of other girls out there. I guess I still haven't found the right one."

Davis listened silently. Usually, unrequited love speeches were boring and sappy…but William seemed to know what he was feeling right now.

"When I met Kari, we were both in the first grade. Some older kids 'invited me' for a soccer game. And, by 'invited me' I mean 'forced me'. I wasn't very good at soccer back then. My team lost because of me, so they taunted me and left me lying on the mud. Then, Kari appeared and helped me up. She looked like an angel and that's how I grown fond of her.

I thought she would never like a timid kid who couldn't even kick a soccer ball properly. So, I changed, thinking she would like me better. I'm now the best soccer player on my team and only an idiot could call me 'shy'" – Davis finished with a grin. But his smile faded away, quickly.

"But…I turned into something she doesn't like. She loves TK and, well…deep down, I always knew that…I wanted her to like me more. Nowadays, I think I should just forget her." – Davis finished the last phrase harshly.

"Yeah, but trust me, if this is your first rejection, don't worry. I already had two, and I haven't given up." – told William.

"Who was your fist?" – asked Davis. William talked slowly, once again:

"Before I moved to France, I was kicked out of my previous school, in my home country. There was a girl in my class which I loved. Her name was Alana…"

"Alana? Weird name." – interrupted Davis.

"Well, it's a Scottish name. I'm Scottish." – William frowning, like someone explaining that two plus two is four.

"Oh, yeah? Then why aren't wearing a kilt?" – Davis teased. William ignored the question, though that had cheered him up.

"Alana was a little shy, but she liked me. To prove her I really loved her, I posted love letter everywhere for her. The other students began whispering behind her back. She never liked that people talked about her. Then, the others began taunting her and never left her alone." – William's voice became sadder than before. – "She accused for that. And, she was right. Because of my stupid idea, she past the worst month of her life, until she moved to another school. She said she hated for that…but not more than I hated myself."

William didn't speak for a few minutes. He kept his head low, trying to prevent tears from coming out. Davis didn't speak either. When William continued, he seemed calmer:

"The schools in Scotland don't accept students who caused disturbances like the one I did…so my parents sent me to a boarding school my uncle had enrolled into: Kadic."

The Googlehead didn't reply. He looked at William and managed to smile.

"Apparently, we're in the same boat. I'll say the only thing missing would be a pair of googles on you head."

William looked at him and laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, pal."

"Hey, William!" – called Odd, in the Skid's cabin. – "You're planning to stick around?"

"Coming Odd!" – William disappeared, after he and Davis fist pounded, reappearing inside the Skid.

_Meanwhile, with XANA…_

"**It looks like the creation of this new monster wasn't a complete failure. The Digidestined need Ultimate level Digimon to beat it.**" – XANA shrugged, slightly satisfied for that.

"But, knowing Aelita, it's only a matter of time before she finds a way to solve that problem, Master." – muttered Jeremie.

"**Maybe, but for now, that doesn't matter. What matters is that we have to clean this hiding place, before tomorrow night.**" – XANA instructed.

"Why? What are you going to do tomorrow night? No, wait! Let me guess: try to take over the world. Right, Master?" – guessed Jeremie.

"**No. We need to have this place ready for our visitor.**" – clarified XANA.

"Visitor? Who, Master?" – inquired Jeremie, interested.

"**My daughter.**" – answered XANA.

"Your daughter? Who is she, Master XANA?"

"**Sissi.**"


	8. Ep 7 Kind to the unkind

**Episode 7: Kind to the unkind**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot;**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1);**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6);**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3);**

**No activated towers, today. Well, at least, not that matters to the plot. We'll have another proof of what one of XANA main objectives is. This episode is a response to **_**Aldamonburst**_**'s review.**

**Plus, Ulrich will meet someone who shall be an important character to the plot, later.**

**This chapter is VERY long.**

Davis was looking at the rising sun. He had woken up earlier that morning (by earlier, I mean 6 AM. Yes, you read me, Davis Motomiya woke up at 6 AM) and got outside, to pass the time. It was a calm Saturday morning and the younger Googlehead was admiring the view of the blue ocean, with the sun rising.

"What a beautiful day. I don't think I've ever felt so good about life." Davis mumbled, dreamingly. Suddenly, a voice spoke up. It was a dark, silent, creepy, emotionless voice. None of the few passerby, but Davis could hear it. It sounded like the voice of Death:

"_Daaaaaviiis…__" _it called out. **(A.N.: I assure you it's not XANA) **Davis blood froze, but he reassumed his smile.

"It must be the birds singing. Today sure will a great day for me. I'm positive!" the boy said.

"_Daaaaaviiis…__" _the voice repeated. Davis shuddered a little, but recomposed himself, though his voice sounded nervous, now.

"This is just the kind of stuff that makes me happy to be alive." he then gave a nervous gag.

"_You're gonna DIE, Davis!_"

Davis eyes went wide. He turned around and began walking back home. He occasionally gave a look around him during his way.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about today, right?" with that unanswered question, Davis returned home, perhaps a little too nervous than his usual self.

Behind a tree nearby, a girl was watching a movie on her small lap top. "_You're gonna DIE, Davis! There's nothing you can do to change that!"_ the

antagonist groaned, like a ghost.

_Later_…

"XANA is definitely up to no good." Izzy announced. The group was reunited at Izzy's once again for he had called up a meeting, that morning. Along with the younger Digidestined were Tai, Agumon and Aelita.

The pinkette had arrived to Japan, by a Digiport. Kadic was going to be closed by five days, so Aelita asked Kari if she could go to the Digital World to pick her up. She was going to stay at the Kamyia residence.

Aelita was necessary with them, because Izzy couldn't run all the functions of the Supercomputer that had been transferred to his computer. He needed the help of a real pro. Plus, since XANA was in the Digital World, Aelita required assistance from someone who knew that world. That's where Izzy and the others came in.

"We have been…" Aelita commenced.

"Before we go any further, we have to make the usual exam." Cody declared, looking at Ken.

"Oh, please! Every meeting is the same thing." Ken muttered exasperatedly. "There isn't even an activated tower."

"Well, with XANA, you can never be too careful." Cody shrugged, approaching Ken and looking him straight in the eye.

"No XANA." the small brunette concluded, examining Tai next.

"I don't know how you can believe I'm possessed again." the older googlehead admitted "If I was XANAfied again, I would be blasting all of you, right now."

"Not really. For XANA, secrecy is a virtue." Aelita retorted.

"And that's why now I won't leave you out of my sight." Agumon said, sounding serious.

"Same goes for me, about you, Ken." Wormmon said. The little worm digimon had been stupefied when he found out, a month ago, that his human partner had been possessed. Izzy coughed to get everyone's attention.

"So, as I was saying, XANA…"

"Another Control Spire we have to knock down, right?" Upamon interrupted. Izzy tapped with his foot on the floor.

"When you're ready to stop interrupting me, just let me know." the red-head muttered.

"Sorry." Upamon apologized. Izzy carried on:

"As I was saying, XANA hasn't attacked in almost a month. After Matt and Tai" the said brunette frowned at the mention of his name "were possessed, our friend has been quiet."

"Yesterday, I detected some activity from XANA. I learned what he had been doing for this last month; the reason why he hasn't attacked yet is because he's been accumulating energy." Aelita continued.

"Energy? For what?" inquired TK.

"I wish I knew. There are only two reasons why he could be doing this. Either he plans to activate lots of Spires at the same time or wants to create an army of monsters." Izzy explained.

"Or maybe both, if he gathers enough power for that." suggested Aelita.

"So, what should we do?" asked Kari. "We don't even know in which part of the Digital World XANA is living."

"Aelita and I have been trying to locate him, but nothing so far. It's as if XANA is both everywhere and nowhere in the Digital World." the computer pro sighed. "The only thing we can do is to be ready when XANA attacks."

Tai glared at the other googlehead in the room. Davis was looking at the floor, his gaze unfocused. Many people would believe the boy was distracted, but Tai could see his 'successor' as Googlehead leader was disturbed.

"Davis, you OK?" Tai asked. Everybody looked at the silent younger Googlehead. Davis took his gaze from the floor to his friends.

"Something is troubling you, isn't it?" asked Ken.

"What? No. Not a chance."

"But, Davis, you haven't said anything since you got here. You're acting kinda weird since this morning." DemiVeemon said bluntly. Davis glared at his partner.

"You really need to learn to stay shut up, DemiVeemon!"

Cody beamed at what the blue In-Training said. He approached Davis and looked right into his eyes.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" the spiky-haired youth.

"No, just making sure you're not one of XANA's Polymorphs." Cody responded. As if summoned by Cody's remark, Izzy's computer beeped, showing a window with a glowing red tower.

"There it is the XANA attack we were waiting." Patamon mumbled.

"The tower is located in…" Aelita stopped talking and gasped. A stream of black smoke came out of an electrical outlet, forming one of XANA's ghosts. The ghost took a human shape and transformed into a replica of Davis Motomiya.

"Creepy." Yolei said, looking at the phony googlehead. XANA-Davis opened his eyes, that showed no doubt he was a Polymorphic Specter.

"You guys go. I'll take care of him." Agumon advanced, preparing to fight the 'human'.

"**No need for that, Dino-lemon**" XANA-Davis muttered, carelessly. "**Master XANA didn't send me here to fight, but to talk, instead.**"

The Digidestined, digimon and only Lyoko Warrior looked stunned. Some of them, mainly Aelita, Tai, Agumon and Gatomon were also looking suspiciously at the newcomer.

"Talk? About what?" asked Aelita, frowning.

"**About surrendering. Master XANA is offering you a chance of surrender. If you accept, your meaningless lives will be spared, for the time being.**" XANA-Davis mumbled, his face emotionless.

"No way, lose!" Tai shouted.

"You better listen, Binky-boy! **What my Master has done so far is merely toying with you. He's watching your every move, learning all of your secrets and weaknesses.**" the Specter continued.

"You can never beat us, XANA, you hear." Kari responded, with shocking ferocity.

"We'll fight until we win, like always." TK cheered. XANA-Davis just shrugged, remaining unfazed:

"**Suit yourselves. Soon, my Master shall unleash the power he has been absorbing and you will fall like mice in a mousetrap. Just remember if you choose to interfere more, the result will be your eminent…**" XANA-Davis looked at the _real_ Davis and gave him a smirk full of malice, while pronouncing the next word. "**…DEATH!**"

XANA-Davis changed back into a ghost of smoke and returned to where he came from. The red alert on Izzy's computer stopped, showing that XANA had just shut down the Control Spire.

The heroes stood there, some dumbfounded, others intrigued by the recent event. It wasn't every day that an enemy proposed an offer of surrendering and revealed a bit of his next move.

However, one of them was thinking only about one of the words XANA-Davis had pronounced. '_Was it just a coincidence he looked at me when he said _death_?_' Davis wondered mentally. His friends had other thoughts in mind.

"Like mice in a mousetrap? What did he mean by that?" inquired Poromon.

"It's obvious. XANA's next attack will be a trap." Ken announced. Silent reign once again in that room. Tai had noticed that Davis still hadn't said a thing, even after his evil twin showed up. He was about to ask, again, what the younger googlehead's problem was, when…

"Hello, I thought you might like some snacks." Izzy's mom said, kindly. She had a big plat on her hands with several pieces of fresh watermelon.

_Later, with Davis…_

The sky was turning grey and it was sure to be raining soon. By now, everybody went their ways. Aelita followed the Kamiya siblings and their respective partners to their residence. Davis was walking back home, his mind still haunted by what XANA-Davis said. The boy had DemiVeemon asleep in the top of his head and was walking close by the park.

'_Was it XANA who spoke to me, this morning? Is he trying to creep me out or make me go bananas?'_ While walking, with his head in other planet, he didn't even notice he dropped his keys on the floor, close by a few bushes. The bushes were been prunedby an old man, who was using a scythe. The old man noticed Davis leaving the keys behind.

"That young man lost something. I better give it back to him." the man stopped, taking a quick glance at the sky. "It'll probably rain in a few moments."

The aged gardenerput on a black cloak, covering his feeble body. He picked up the keys and broke into a run after Davis, with the scytheon his other hand.

"Hey, young man, you lost this!" he shouted, for Davis was a little far and the gardenerwasn't exactly young.

When the googlehead turned around, he gasped and his eyes widened. A creepy dark figure, wieldinga scythe was running after him!

"Holy cow! It's the Grim Reaper!" Davis panicked, breaking into his own run, grabbing DemiVeemon with his left hand, to make sure the small digimon wouldn't fall from his head.

"Davis, wha…" DemiVeemon said with a yawn.

"Talk later, survive now!" Davis shrieked, running even faster. Soon enough, the 'Grim Reaper' was no longer after him.

_Now, with the girls…_

"It's so good to have Kari's friends over." Mrs. Kamiya blabbered, gleeful. "I'm making my specialty for tonight."

'_Oh, brother._' both Kamiya siblings sighed. Knowing their mom's 'specialties', they would be praying to the Gods to survive dinner. Aelita's polite and nice attitude was what thrilled the mother into making a special dinner.

Tai and Agumon volunteered to sleep in the couch, despite the pinkette's protests. The two girls were now chatting in Tai's and Kari's room. Agumon and Tai had to help Mrs. Kamiya preparing the meal, to their great unhappiness.

Kary and Aelita became friends first because of the choice of clothes: they both loved pink.

"Say, Aelita. So far you guys only talked us about your father, Franz Hopper. What about your mother? Doesn't she know your suppose to be saving the world?" Gatomon asked, out of nowhere. The Lyoko Warrior, that so far had been smiley, adverted her gaze and looked outside, through the window, so that neither the digimon or the Digidestined could see her teary eyes.

"My mother has disappeared. Even before I came to Lyoko and my father had to shut down the SuperComputer. She was taken by agents that worked for a Secret French Service. That was twelve years ago. I doubt she's alive." she said quickly, before her voice crackled.

Gatomon stood silent, already regretting that question. Kari placed her hand on her mouth, shocked by that revelation. If that was true, that made her the only Lyoko Warrior with no family (as far as she knew, the others had all of their loved ones alive). Sure her father was alive, but since he was in the Network, she could never see him.

"I'm sorry." Gatomon apologized, ashamed.

"Don't be. It's not your fault." Aelita said calmly. "It's nobody's fault."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you sure are strong to fight XANA, without your father around." said Kari, hoping that would make her sadder. "The dream of seeing your father again gives you strength."

"Yes, that gave will to keep fighting and…" Aelita blushed a little. "…well, Jeremie also gave strength."

Knowing what the Princess meant by that, Kari took the chance of changing the subject.

"You like him, don't you?" she asked with a little smile. Aelita nodded, smiling.

"He was the one of brought me to Earth. He worked himself to death to find me an antivirus and looking for my father." she told, with a small dreamy smile.

"Pity we never met him before." Gatomon commented. Aelita frowned at this.

"He has nothing to do with the maniac XANA turned him into. I'll find a way to set him free from XANA's clutches!" the determination that the last sentence was spoken with and the glow in Aelita's eyes left no doubt to Kari and Gatomon that the pinkette was serious.

"You must really love him, don't you?" Kari asked both rhetorically and teasingly. Aelita flusheda little before counter-attacking:

"Yes, but I don't think I'm the only pinky that has it bad for a blond guy."

This time, Kari flushed. Gatomon snickered soundly.

"So, why do you gap at the sight of TK?" Aelita asked with a smirk.

"I don't…" Kari began.

"Oh, please. I know you adore him. I can tell that he loves you."

"TK and I are just friends. Good friends."

"Well, wouldn't you rather be 'girlfriend' than 'good friend'?" Aelita asked.

"Patamon and I are sick of waiting for any of you two to make the first move, Kari. Just ask him out or something." Gatomon blunted.

Tai spared Kari the obligation to answer that, by opening the door to make a great announcement:

"Good news, girls. Dinner was…er, _accidentally_ burned. We're going to order a pizza."

"Is that so? It wouldn't happen to have been a certain boy with googles that _ruined _mom's dinner, was it?" Kari inquired, raising a knowing eyebrow. Tai give that look back.

"Maybe." he said.

"I heard that, Taichi Kamiya!" Mrs. Kamiya shouted from the kitchen.

_In the next day…_

"Guys, hurry! XANA is attacking!" Izzy urged. Once every Digidestined got the message, they all went to Izzy's in a hurry. Even Aelita, Tai, Matt and Sora went. According to Izzy, the more come, the better.

"XANA is attacking a city in the Digital World!" the red-head informed. Aelita had already contacted her team and explained the situation. "This is why XANA had gathered all of his strength. He created a small army of those Lobscions to attack that city close by the dam that Control Spire Golemon tried to destroy."

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go." said Davis.

"Yumi and the others will meet us there." Aelita informed.

"You're going to help us, even though XANA is attacking _our_ world and not _yours_?" Byomon inquired.

"Fighting XANA is my job. You can count on us." the pinkette responded.

"Thank you, but we really are short on time." hurried Izzy preparing the Digiport.

"Why would XANA attack the Digital World? I thought he only wanted our world?" wondered Sora.

"With XANA, you can never guess. Well, at least, that's what Aelita says." Yolei mused.

"We'll help you guys." Matt supported. "After all, Tai and I have a score to settle with XANA."

_Now, with XANA…_

The multi-agent system glared at the screen in his hiding place. The city was under a massive attack. Digimon were running away in all directions. His Lobscions didn't even care about them. Their main target was to cause some destruction, but not to reduce the city to ash.

Soon, the Digidestined would take the bait. Though that wasn't what he planned. The real targets of this 'attack' were the Lyoko Warriors. XANA could only hope that they would want to help the Digidestined.

"**Hum…The cavalry is finally here.**" XANA smirked as another screen showed the Chosen Children arriving at the battle field. Soon enough, the Lyoko Warriors abandoned the Skid and entered the city.

"**The time has come. Belpois! Scyphozoa!**" XANA summoned his human servant and his unique monster. They entered the room and bowed to their master.

"Master XANA." Jeremie said. The monster only made that sound that always was heard when the Scyphozoa was floating around.

"**Our friends, the Lyoko Warriors decided to join us and play a little. You know what you two have to do. Make sure they don't want to leave the party so soon.**"

"Yes, Master XANA." the XANA Warrior responded, standing up and leaving the room, accompanied by the jellyfish.

"**By the way, from now on, I want you to call me 'Sweet'. No, wait, 'CJ' is better! From this day forth, you'll call me 'CJ'. And Belpois, you can be 'Ryder'. And you Scyphozoa will be 'Big Smoke'. Understood?**"

"Yes, Master XA…er CJ." corrected Jeremie.

"**Very well, now Ryder and Big Smoke, go. Go and don't forget: GROVE IS KING!**"

_Back with the good guys…_

"Eagle Claw!" shouted the biggest digimon Odd had ever seen. The cat-like Lyoko Warrior couldn't help but to gap at the supersized creature. Way bigger than Paildramon and Shakkoumon was the red Garuda (a half-man half-bird creature) that grabbed two Lobscions and threw them into the air.

"Wing Blade!" the Ultimate unleashed and aura of red energy that turned the two flying monsters into nothing. The giant bird moved, looking for more enemies, but almost trampledOdd.

"Hey, watch where you step!" the human feline screamed so that the digimon could hear.

"Sorry! My bad."

The two other new digimon were even more powerful, though they weren't necessarily giants. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon could not take on Lobscions so easily. Despite they were more powerful, they couldn't use their strongest attacks, or else, soon there would be no city.

"Great Tornado!" shouted WarGreymon, piercing a Lobscion in the thorax. The monsters screamed in agony, but impressively, it didn't died. He returned attacking WarGreymon with all its lasers.

"Wow. How are we supposed to wipe out these things?" the yellow Mega said, dodging the attacks easily.

"Like this. Laser Arrow!" Odd shot three arrows, hitting the occupied monster on its insignia. "Dino-dude, hit them on the symbols they have on their foreheads. It's their weakness."

"Right! Thanks, Odd. But don't call me Dino-dude." the armored bipedal dinosaur nodded, facing another opponent. "Dramon Killer!"

The Lobscion blocked the attack, shielding its forehead with the four pincers, but WarGreymon's strike shattered the pincers and the target.

"Now that's more like it!"

"Watch out, WarGreymon! This XANA is not like any digimon we ever fought." warned Tai. The brunette's partner nodded; he was right. Their enemies usually fought them directly. XANA however could manipulate the world itself to fight them, for him.

In other part of the city, MetalGarurumon was attacking mercilessly. That XANA had controlled his partner and used him to hurt his friends.

'_And now I'm gonna make him pay._' the cyborg wolf growled in his mind. In front of him, three Lobscions were shooting. "If only I could shoot some of my own, as well."

"No, MetalGarurumon. We can't damage the city more than it already is." Matt reminded.

"Need a hand?" a female voice inquired. Yumi had just arrived at the spot. She eyed the attacking enemies, before shooting.

"MetalGarurumon, shoot some of your missiles. They won't destroy the buildings."

"What?" both the blond human and the digimon gasped.

"Just do it! Trust me." Yumi said, shielding herself with her fans. MetalGarurumon looked hesitantly to Matt. The human nodded.

"OK, I'll trust you. Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon unleashed his largest missile. It stroked the middle of the three monsters. The explosion was intense and was about to wipe out the houses around. However, the blow was hold inside of what seemed to be a cocoon made of a faint pink light.

"What the…" Matt gazed at Yumi. The girl had her hand on her forehead and was surrounded by the same light as the explosion. Yumi raised her left arm and a hole was opened in the top of the cocoon. The blow came out, without destroying the street.

"Nice move!" complimented MetalGarurumon.

"_Arigatou_." Yumi thanked.

In the periphery other part, Paildramon and Ulrich were fighting together one Lobscion. These new monsters had the same power of a particularly strong Ultimate-level Digimon. However, if they were distracted into not use the pincers to protect themselves, they were easy targets.

"I'll distract him! Triplicate!" the Lobscion was surrounded by 3 samurais. The monster grabbed one of them with a pincers and crushed him. The remaining samurais ran around the monster. He kept firing at them, but their speed protected them from been shot.

"Desperato Blaster!" the Ultimate fired at the arthropod, which exploded. Unfortunately, before that, the monster carelessly fired at the base of building, making the structure to collapse.

"Great job, guys!" supported Ken.

"Help me!" a soft voice yelped. Ulrich looked behind him and spotted a tiny little digimon at the base of the building.

"Super Sprint!" the samurai ran to the place and pick up the digital being before he was smashed. Ulrich stopped when he knew they were safe. He looked at the small digimon trembling on his hands. I looked like a small, hairy ball with white snowy fur and two round ears.

"You saved me! You saved me! Thank you. I'm Yukimibotamon." the digimon said.

"Don't mention it." the samurai said. Ulrich ran to the limit of the city, where the forest began and put Yukimibotamon on the ground, kindly. "You better get out of here. Things are still looking grim."

"OK and thank you." Yukimibotamon said before heading to the forest. Ulrich ran back to his companions. Paildramon was finishing off another enemy, not knowing XANA had just sent a new monster.

"Paildramon , watch out!" Ulrich shouted. But too late. A Megatank fired his laser, hitting Paildramon dead on.

"Paildramon!" Davis and Ken cried out. Their partner was thrown into the limitof the city, de-digivolving into two rookies. Ken and Davis attended to their partners.

"You OK, Veemon?" said Davis.

"Is it lunch time, Davis?" the blue digimon asked, drowsily.

"Wha… what's happening?" Ken asked, frightened. The earth was trembling.

"Is it an earthquake?" Wormmon asked.

"Oh no!" Ken pointed to the floor between him and Davis. A fissurecracked in the ground and a barrier of red partly transparent red light erupted out of it. The barrier surrounded the entire city, trapping everybody, but Ken and Wormmon inside.

In the middle of the city, Aelita was flying over the buildings. She saw the giant dome they were now trapped in. She spotted WarGreymon hurling his Terra Force into the barrier, only to find useless to attack it.

"Great, we're trapped." but, as Aelita learned when she heard her bracelet beeping, their problems hadn't even began. "Oh, no!"

"What is it, Aelita?" asked Sora, on Garudamon's shoulder, while the Ultimate flew close by the pinkette.

"This attack was a trap all along. XANA only wanted to trap us here." Aelita yelped.

"For what?" Garudamon inquired, confused.

"So that the Skidbladnir was unprotected. We have to get out here and fast!"

"But how. Not even WarGreymon's and MetalGarurumon's attacks could break free." pointed Sora.

"Hey, look!" Garudamon pointed to border of their prison bubble. "Ken and Wormmon are outside."

Aelita wasted no time and flew in the direction the Ultimate had pointed. She landed where Davis and Veemon were and talked to the two outsiders:

"Ken, Wormmon, the Skid is been attacked by the Scyphozoa! This attack was just a decoy. Please, you have to go there and stop him!" Aelita begged.

"We will. Don't worry, Aelita. But where is the Skid?" asked Ken. Aelita pointed to the forest.

"It's in a clearing, in that direction." she said. Ken just nodded, grabbed Wormmon and broke into a run. Davis watched his friends leaving until he was no longer visible.

"So…what do we do now?" he asked.

"Find a way to get out of here." she responded, having no idea how.

_Meanwhile, with Ken and Wormmon…_

"Ken, look!" Wormmon, on Ken's shoulder, pointed to the Skidbladnir. A giant, crimson, cyclope-like jellyfish was attached to the Skid, by its tentacles. The monster appeared to be sucking something from the ship into its transparent head.

"Go, Wormmon!" Ken raised his D-3.

_Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon_

The green insect focused his red-eyes and prepared his pinkish-purple spike:

"Spiking Strike!"

"Not so fast!" a voice yelled, coming from nowhere. "Ice!"

The champion was hit by a big spike of solid ice, de-digivolving into Wormmon. Ken picked up his partner, checking if he was alright. A new enemy arrived at the spot, standing between the heroes and the Skid.

"Well, well, look what the _worm_ dragged in. I thought you two were also trapped inside the city." Jeremie mocked, with his characteristic smirk.

"Belpois." Ken murmured**, **distastefully.

"The one and only. You now, as much as I would love to freeze you to death, for the little trick you used against me, that time **(Ep 3: Can't stand the heat)**, I have a better idea." Jeremie smirked grew as he summoned his spikes and freeze both Ken and Wormmon, leaving only their heads unfrozen.

"Now, watch as my Master destroys the only thing that allows those meddling Lyoko Warriors to frustrate him." Jeremie said, turning around, looking at virtual ship, whose energy shields were almost disappearing.

Ken felt helpless, useless and failed. He had to do something. Aelita and the others were counting on him. Wormmon couldn't move, so what to do?

'_What is the good of having a crest and a D-3, if I can't help those in need? Wormmon can't fight and the others are stuck…the only thing I have is…myself'_ Ken thought, understanding finally what he was supposed to do. '_I am a Digidestined and my job is to save the world. And to save the world I must be the Digidestined I am…Kindness.'_

"Belpois…no, Jeremie." Ken called. The blond turned around, arms crossing over his chest, looking at Ken with a quirked eyebrow. "I finally heard you."

"What?" asked Jeremie, confused.

"I finally heard your tears." Ken whispered. Both the worm digimon and the XANA Warrior looked at him, puzzled.

"Tears?" inquired Jeremie.

"Yes, during all these months you served XANA, you were crying. Not your eyes, but your heart was. You attacked your own friends, you helped XANA hurt people and you're helping him on his goal to rule the world. _Our_ world. Your world too." Ken spoke, keeping his voice calm, despite the cold ice made him voice want to crack.

"AH! AH! AH! Is that how you plan to win…a dorky, lame speech? How _lovely_. Let me just puke." Jeremie taunted, his eyes showed nothing more than cold amusement and cruelty. Ken seemed unfazed by these insults and carried on:

"You have no regard for your friends, for Aelita, or for your family that XANA will most likely kill or enslave once he succeeds. And all of that because his own conscience is controlling your own. However, nobody can control someone to the point of fully corrupting their soul. Despite your brain felt no remorse for what you have done, so far, your heart weeps for what you have become. Tell me, Jeremie, who were you before serving XANA?"

Despite hearing Ken, Jeremie dismissed all of his words, but the ones of the last sentence. He frowned confused by that question that he couldn't even answer. "I…I was…" Jeremie asked, slowly.

"You were one who promised to destroy XANA and save the world from him." Ken answered for him. The XANA Warrior grabbed his head with both hands, feeling the headache he felt before, on the Ice Sector, when he was about to kill Yumi **(See 'Diary of a Slave': Chapter 2)**

_He was in a dark half-familiar room, giving hands with his supposed enemies, the Lyoko Warriors…_

_ "No Aelita…It's our job." he said, softly…_

_Another scene in the same room. This time, his 'enemies' came inside and shouted on his back:_

_ "Happy Birthday, Jeremie!" they showed him a cake and four bright smiles._

_ Before he could say anything, a great darkness swallowed the event. Jeremie saw nothing but black. Not even his hands were visible. A cold, merciless voice hissed:_

_ 'You have no memories! You have no soul! You're just a tool and you WILL OBEY ME!'_

The headache vanished and Jeremie looked again at Ken, this time with pure disdain.

"Nice try. Smart move trying to poison my mind. I'm sure if you had your partner digivolved you would have let him squash me, right? Kindness, puh-lease. You plan to beat me with kindness." he hissed with disgust.

"You know, been evil is very easy. Anyone can do terrible things. We all have potential for evil. But, choosing between what is right and what is easy is what defines our strength. Doing what is right and good is, many times, a hard choice, which proves the good is stronger. Kindness is not weakness."

Said the last word, Ken's D-3 began to glow with a dark purple light. It was so strong that the ice trapping him and Wormmon shattered. Jeremie had to close his eyes to the blinding light. The Scyphozoa even stopped his doing to watch the event.

For some reason that he couldn't explain, Ken knew what was next. And so did Wormmon.

_Wormmon armor-digivolve to…YasashiiYanmamon_

**(A.N.: **_**Yasashii **_**is Japanese for **_**kind**_**. I choose to make a digimon of my own to this armor digivolution, instead of using the one indicated by Wikimon. Trust me, this is way better than Wormmon's true armor-digivolved form.)**

A pink dragon fly the size of a bulldog now stood flying above the two humans. Four rigid transparent wings, a long tail with a sting, a big round head with two big purple eyes. On his head, it had the Crest of Kindness. Despite been bigger than it's rookie form, Ken's partner didn't seem quite menacing. The Scyphozoa, seeing no possible threat from the new digimon just returned to his job.

Jeremie almost chocked with all the laughing. He hugged himself, bending over and barely controlling the laughs:

"Is that your new strategy: an over-sized pink dragon-fly! Good one! Do me a favor and turn into a yellow shrimp with bunny ears and flaming eyebrows, next time! AH! AH! AH!"

"Jeremie you should know better than underestimating an opponent. Sometimes, those who appear to be the feeblest can be quite strong." Ken said, fully trusting in his partner and his crest.

"Sonic Shock!" YasashiiYanmamon beat his wings, causing a powerful sound wave. The sound didn't hurt Ken or the digimon, but it harmed Jeremie. The blond covered his ears, though that wasn't enough to block the sound.

"Enough!" Jeremie shot a freezing ray, but YasashiiYanmamon ceased the attack and dodged. Jeremie repeated the attack, but his opponent always managed to avoid been turned into an ice cube. "Hold still, so I can kill you!"

"That's not gonna happen!" YasashiiYanmamon replied, giggling. The dragonfly digimon was especially fast. "Dragon Sting!"

The insect fired his sting on his tail. It took a moment to Jeremie realize that the attack wasn't meant for him, but for the Scyphozoa! The next moments appeared to happen in slow motion. The XANA Warrior shot a freezing laser, aiming at the projectile, but he couldn't make it. The sting hit the distracted Scyphozoa on its tentacles, making him release the ship.

"Way to go, YasashiiYanmamon!"

"Oh, no!" Jeremie grunted. He was so furious, watching the Scyphozoa fleeing. XANA's henchman felt the ground shaking, demonstrating XANA's wrath for that failure. The two humans and digimon hear the sound of something big cracking. Since XANA had lost the battle, there was no purpose in wasting energy keeping the others trapped inside the city. Soon they would arrive and Jeremie would have no chance. He virtualized his skiers and fled out of there:

"It's not over, Ichijouji!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"You're right, it's not over." the said Ichijouji agreed, watching Jeremie escape.

_Later_…

"I'm sure that XANA plans to destroy the Skid, to get rid of us, since we have more experience dealing with him than you guys." Aelita mused, communicating through a graphic window, in the computer room.

"Well, it's not the first time XANA sets up a trap just to get to the Skidbladnir." Izzi commented.

"What's more, I received an e-mail from my father. He says he has been watching our struggle and has some data that can help you digivolve to Ultimate, in the presence of a Control Spire. Mega Level will still be off limits, however." Aelita said.

"For real?" Davis asked.

"Yes. Since XANA has created those new monsters, it's hard to get rid of them only with Armor-Digivolution. Meanwhile, I'm trying to find a way to virtualize us directly into the Digital World, in case XANA destroys the Skid. By the way, Ken, Wormmon." the pinkette looked at the two of them, with a smile. "thank you for saving the Skid, again. And, I really love your armor-digivolved form, Wormmon."

The indigo haired digidestined smiled, while Wormmon blushed at the compliment.

"And, the best part is that now I won't have to go through those examinations." he said, looking for a moment at Cody. The young digidestined had other ideas, however.

"True, but the appearance ofthat XANA-Davis reminded me that XANA can send a Polymorph of any of us. We should keep checking our eyes whenever we meet, just in case any of us is a spy."

"_Oh, great!"_ Ken muttered in his mind.

_At night, with Davis…_

"Davis, you never told us why you were so…_thoughtful_, today. And I never thought I would say that word" Veemon pointed out. The Googlehead looked at him, hesitantly.

"Well, this morning I was getting a lot of hints that…I was…gonna … get my butt kicked by a girl." Davis said the last seven words very rapidly. The blue dragon look at Davis, stunned. Some people would have known that the Googlehead was lying, but Veemon wasn't one of those people.

"You're a nutcase, Davis." Veemon shook his head.

A while later, they were both sleeping. Or at least, Veemon was. Davis was still mulling about those creepy encounters.

"_It was XANA. No doubt about that. He's just trying to scare me. Well, fat chance, from now on, XANA.' _with that Davis soon arrived to dreamland.

Midnight, and the room was completely silent. Or, so it was until the door opened and Jun came in. Her eyes glowed, with XANA's mark. She quickly but silently made a B-line for the sleeping Davis, swayinga knife:

"**Hello, Davis! I got you an early birthday present.**" Jun whispered, with a maniac smile. She raised the knife, aiming the tip of the blade at Davis closed left eye. "**It's called been stabbed in the eye! I hope you don't already have one, Binky-boy.**"

**:: Master CJ, **_**Zork and Pals**_** is about to begin. If you want to know what will happen to Bakura after he had knocked up his own daughter, you better come quickly. :: **Jeremie communicated, telepathically.

"**Oh, great. I'm late for my favorite show.**" XANA muttered through Jun. She looked back at Davis, hatefully. "**This somehow prevents me from simply lowering my arm and murdering you. Congratulations. You get to live and suck for another day.**"

The XANAfied girl left the room, frowning in annoyance.

Deleted Scenes:

**Scene 1:** "**Suit yourselves. Soon, my Master shall unleash the power he has been absorbing and you will fall like mice in a mousetrap. Just remember if you choose to interfere more, the result will be your eminent…**" XANA-Davis looked at the _real_ Davis and gave him a smirk full of malice, while pronouncing the next word. "**…DEATH!**"

The door opened and Mrs. Izumi came in, holding a plat with fresh water melon pieces. Everybody gazed at her, even XANA-Davis.

"Hello, I though you would like some snacks and…" the woman stopped when she noticed that two of the Googleheads looked exactly the same. "…Oh, I didn't know there were twins in the house."

"Oh uh." Izzi whispered nervous. "Mom, stay away from _that_ Davis."

"**No thanks, lady. I'm not hungry.**" the Specter said, unfazed by the woman's appearance. He gazed at the Digidestined, digimon and Aelita one last time. "**You got the picture, so choose wisely.**"

XANA-Davis turned back into a cloud of black smoke and returned to where he came from. Mrs. Izumi dropped the plat, looking terrified.

"Mom, don't freak out." pleaded Izzy.

"Too late for that." the woman said before fainting.

**Scene 2: **A while had gone since Wormmon and Ken went deeper into the forest. Davis stood close by a small building. With Veemon beaten up, they wouldn't be much of help. The fight kept going and they were winning.

"Well, at least there nothing to worry about, in here." Davis remarked. The wall of the building began to tremble. Davis watched horrified as it began to fall upon them two. Without thinking, Davis tossed his injured partner away from the danger. However, that had cost him the time he needed to avoid been turned into a pancake.

"DAVIS!" Veemon cried out. The next events seemed to have happened in slow motion. Davis stared at the collapsing massive wall. He knew that this was the end. Time appeared to have stop and Davis found himself watching his life happening before his eyes. A voice, that sounded just like his own began to speak

_ "I've lived my life proudly. When I was born, my parents knew that I was made to help the others in need. Therefore, they called me Daisuke (Big help), making me Daisuke Motomiya (Big Help of the True Shrine)._

_ My young life was normal, just like any other kid. Well, at least until August 3rd, 1999 when I and my family were captured by Myotismon, 'cause the bloodsucker thought I could be the eight Chosen Child. It was then that I was chosen to become a digidestined, in the future._

_ It was about now that I began to dream about opening my own noodle cart_

_ When I enrolled into Odaiba's Elementary School, I met Kari Kamiya, who I developed a crush on. I also met Tai Kamiya, Kari's brother, captain of the soccer team and my idol. Three years passed and Takeru Ishida got in the picture, ruining every chance I had with Kari._

_ I became a Digidestined in that same day and was called to the Digital World to fight the jerk Digimon Emperor. I met my best friend, Veemon, who was thrilled to meet me._

_Later, I played a soccer game against the boy genius. I fought against the Emperor on that same day and he turned out to be Ken Ichijouji. He ended up creating a monster that almost killed us all, including himself. But Veemon kicked Ken's creation's butt._

_After the Emperor's defeat, I went to America, along with Cody and Yolei. There we met Willies, who had two partners. One of them was corrupted and Veemon and Willie's Terriermon Gold Armor-Digivolved. They managed to beat him and save the day._

_After that, the enemy became a weird witch-dressed-like woman. Ken reappeared and our digimon merged together into Paildramon._

_When Digimon began to appear all over the world, Veemon and I went to New York to help Mimi and Willies._

_Months later, we had the final battle against MaloMyotismon. We managed to win, all together, again._

_When Diaboromon returned and digivolved into Armaggedomon. Ken and I spent the all day capturing the Kuramon. I wanted to go to the Internet, to help Kari and Tai. The Kuramon merged into Armaggedomon. Not even Omnimon could beat him. Fortunately, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode showed him who's boss._

_Later it began the unhappiest part of my life. We had lost another game, Kari turned me down and Cody got a girlfriend before me. I went to New York to forget about that stuff. There I met Willies and Mimi. Suddenly, the scenario changed and we found a girl, that we named Nat-chan. She seemed to like me and she kinda made me forget about Kari. I thought I had found someone who could love me back. But then she revealed to be a violent corrupted digimon. I tried to talk to her, even though she was going on a rampage. I managed to talk to her; she thanked me and said goodbye before dying. I never felt worse! My name means 'Big Help', but I couldn't even help the girl I cared about. Her digi-egg appeared, but the idea that I would never talk to her again didn't make me any happier._

_Now, I just met the Lyoko Warriors, who were battling XANA. We joined them, 'cause XANA was hiding on the Digital World and wanted to rule our world at any cost. On one our adventures, we had to defend a city from a XANA's attack. However, a wall collapsed over me, finishing me off…_

Davis looked at his imminent end. He closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable. However, the momentaryexpected pain never came. He peeked and saw the unexpected. Miraculously, the wall had a large whole and Davis passed right through the whole.

"Wow, talk about dumb luck." Davis whispered, smiling.


	9. Ep 8 Spying Conversations

**Episode 8: Spying Conversations**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot; **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6); **

**the OverSkate (Episode 3); **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7).**

**No action on this episode. It's just the Lyoko Team and the Digidestined making stronger bonds.**

**And, great news! A new possible season 5/movie will be relieved in 2012: CODE LYOKO EVOLUTION**

The plans were all set up. The Lyoko Warriors would be staying with the Digidestined, in Japan. Kadic would be closed for the Holidays and the parents of all Lyoko Warriors, minus Aelita's, think their children would be going with the fictional Mr. and Mrs. Stones during a few days. Both teams of heroes had plans to make, so that the mission wouldn't be wrecked by XANA.

Aelita's father had the data that would permit the digimon to digivolve within the range of a Control Spire. However, he would have to go to the Digital World. And, for that, the heroes would have to activate a Control Spire. Plus, they would need all the help they could get from the digidestined.

"We're approaching the entrance." Aelita announced. She hacked, as usual, into the key. Soon enough, the entrance was opened and they resurfaced at the sea of the Digital World. On a beach, there were Zudomon and MegaKabuterimon. Those two digimon had been chosen to guard the Skid until the Lyoko Warriors returned, in the next day.

The Skid landed on the beach and the five humans disembarked.

"Nice to meet you." said the aquatic Ultimate.

"Good to see you again, guys." greeted Yumi.

"Kari and Yolei will meet you by a television screen, North of that city." MegaKabuterimon pointed to a small agglomerateof houses, barely noticeable on the horizon. The beach turned into a desert in that direction.

"Thanks you." Aelita virtualized their vehicles and they rode to the village.

"You know what's funny?" asked Odd.

"What?"

"Before, we always had to protect the Skid from monsters. Now, we are trusting a couple of them to guard it for us." the blond elucidated.

"Odd, they're not monsters." retorted Ulrich.

"They call themselves 'digital monster', so I guess Odd is right; they _are _monsters. Friendly monsters, but still monsters." opined William, skating over a dune.

"Fair enough." the German agreed. Aelita gazed at the two swordsmen.

"Who knew? William and Ulrich just agreed on something." the pinkette teased. They all laughed, even the two guys.

Soon enough, they were crossing the village. It looked like a city from the a Western movie. The Digimon villagers couldn't avoid but to glare at the newcomers before returning to their affairs. Odd stopped and descended from his overboard.

"Odd? Where are you going?" asked Aelita. The rest of team stopped as well. The purple cat-human pointed to a bar.

"To get something to eat. We didn't have lunch today, remember?"

"Odd, is your stomach the only thing you think about?" Yumi exasperated.

"No, I also think about Melanie." the blond retorted.

"Didn't she slap you when I told her…" Ulrich quickly corrected himself. "…I mean, when she _learnt_ that you were dating Heidi at the same time you were dating her?"

Odd ignored him and entered the bar in an all cowboy manner. The others just shook their heads. William spotted a Tapirmon selling some artifacts such as necklaces, bracelets and stuff, on a tent.

"You know, a stop wouldn't be bad. I'm gonna check that out. My cousin Isabelle's birthday is just around the corner, after all." the giant sword wielder walked toward the tent.

"Guess we'll have to wait for these two." Ulrich mumbled, leaning on to the wood made outside wall of a barber shop. Yumi saw out of the corner of her eye a purple blur running away from three grey blurs.

"I'm gonna see something over there. I'll be right back." the Japanese said.

"Ok, but be careful." warned Aelita. Yumi nodded and ran into the straitpath between two houses. A small, purple fury digimon was shaking, surrounded by three gray menacing looking bipedal wolf-like digimon. Unbeknownst to Yumi, they were Gazimon.

"Hand over your lunch!" one of the Gazimon. The purple digimon shook its head, frightened. The bullies were about to attack, when Yumi shouted:

"What is going on here?"

The four digimon gazed at the girl. She was staring daggers at the three bullies.

"Nothing of your business, human. Take a high." responded one of the Gazimon.

"I'll tell you what: why don't you take a high and leave that little guy alone?" she replied, frowning. The three champions laughed.

"Oh, yeah. Show us what you got." The Gazimon were about to unleash their attacks, but Yumi was faster.

"Eyah!" the _Geisha _hurled her Tesen Fans at the enemies. However, they dodged just in time:

"You missed!" one of them taunted. Yumi however smirked:

"Look behind you." she said. One of them either was dumb enough or wise enough to obey her. He ducked and avoided been hit behind by the returning fans. The other two Gazimon weren't so lucky. After been hit they ran away.

"Electri Stun…" the remaining Gazimon couldn't finish the attack for he suddenly began floating in thin air, with a faint pink aura surrounding him. "What the…"

He was shoved inside a barrel, which Yumi pushed over and went rolling out of there, with the Gazimon inside. The small In-Training purple digimon got out of its hiding place. It looked at Yumi with teary eyes.

"You saved me." the digimon said in a silent, soft female voice. It was a she.

"Don't mention it, little one. Who are you?" asked the _Geisha_. The small creature looked like a baby fox.

"I'm Pakumon. Thank you for saving me." she answered gleefully.

**(A.N.: Pakumon is my invention. It's a purple version of Renamon's In-training form.)**

Yumi got on her knees to look better at the cute digimon and smiled:

"Well, nice meeting you, Pakumon. See ya around!" Yumi said, turning around and waving goodbye.

"See ya around…whatever that means." Pakumon waved back with her tail.

_A while later…_

"Yumi comes to my house, if she wants." proposed Yolei, sternly.

"Fine by me." the Japanese Lyoko Warrior replied, smiling in gratitude. She was happy to be back at her homeland. Yolei, as her host, didn't smile, however.

"Ulrich can come to my house. He said he wanted to meet my grandpa." Cody offered. Ulrich was looking forward to learn a few stuff about Kendo.

"William could stay at my house." said TK.

"No problem." William replied.

"I guess that leaves Odd to my place." stated Davis.

"And Aelita to mine." finished Kari.

"Thank you for the hospitality." Yumi thanked with a small bowl.

The two teams were now in the real world, discussing who would be staying with whom.

"So its settled." concluded Cody. Upamon looked at a funny looking contraption on the ceiling of the computer room.

"Hey, guys, what's that thing?" the light yellow rookie inquired pointing at the device with his spike-ears.

"That's a security camera. Though I had no idea that the school had those." Kari said. The camera was soon forgotten.

The Lyoko Warriors separated and went with one of the Digidestined. Unbeknownst to any of them, each group was been observed by the Eye of XANA.

In XANA's domain, the evil Multi-agent program was watching them on several screens. Every Lyoko Warrior and Digidestined was been spied. Even the older group and their Digimon partners. Each screen was been monitored by a different Creeper.

"**I have installed hidden security cameras all over Paris and Tokyo, mainly Kadic, Odaiba's Elementary school and the Digidestined' houses. After all, when you're evil, you can never be too paranoid. Now, I'll watch my enemies 24 for 7 and discover every secret, every battle plan they may scheme. Also I want to know what do boy and girls talk about when they're alone.**" XANA monologue arrogantly. He turned to the Creepers watching the screens. "**You all know the orders: keep the kids under surveillance, every time.**"

"Master XANA…" one of the Creepers began. XANA growled, eyeing the monster with a killing glare.

"I mean, Master CJ" the monster immediately corrected himself. "By 'every time' you mean 'all the time'?"

"**Well, duh!**" XANA rolled his eyes.

"But, do we really have to watch them doing stuff like taking a shower or dressing up or undressing? That seems very…_unnecessary_." the creepy-crawly then added "and perverted."

"**I must always be one step ahead of them. Watch them every second, even if they making something that would be improper for people younger than 18.**" XANA replied, drily.

_Now, on Cody's…_

"Be welcome to our house, Ulrich." Mrs. Hida welcomed, smiling.

"Huh…Thank you, Mrs. Hida." Ulrich said blushing, embarrassedly.

The samurai was then guided to the Kendo room, where a few Kendo armors and _shinais _(Kendo wooden swords) were leaning against a wall. The place seemed well prepared for a Kendo lesson.

"Wow! Do you think your grandfather could teach me a thing or two?" the German asked, eager to learn more.

"Let me warn you: he's very strict. You better be very sure." the shorter boy answered.

"He can't be more demandingthan my father. If you're not the best in anything, you're nothing." Ulrich muttered. Cody eyed him with wonder.

"Your dad is that hard on you?"

"Yeah. Sometimes he gets into a fight with my mom. But why don't you talk me about your father, Cody?"

Cody knew that Ulrich was trying to change the subject into a lighter one. But that wasn't what he accomplished.

"My father past away a few years ago. I was six, back then." Cody didn't elaborate. Ulrich quickly apologized.

"No problem. These things make you stronger, I guess." he tried to sound painless.

"So, what's the feeling of fighting on Lyoko, hu?" a voice coming out of one of the _Men _(Kendo helmet).

"Upamon." Cody mumbled. The small yellow In-training got out of his hiding place. "How many times do I have to tell you to never hide in here?"

"Oh, come on Cody. It's not like your grandpa doesn't know I exist." the digimon jumped to Cody's hands. Ulrich couldn't help but to laugh at this.

"You look just like me, when I was 9, Upamon." seeing the confused look in the digimon's face, Ulrich added. "I mean psychologically, not physically."

The 2 boys and the digimon laughed at the awkward idea of Ulrich had ever had a physical similaritywith a digimon.

_Meanwhile…_

"Your family is great, Yolei." Yumi said. The two girls were now in the digidestined' room. Poromon was sleeping in the family's couch. Yolei made sure he wasn't in her room before closing the door and looking coldly at Yumi.

The raven-haired sighed. Ever since a little _bird _told her old admirer and Yolei had become an item, she knew this moment would come.

"I don't know if you have something for Ken, but…"

Yumi raised her hand to silence her. Despite Yolei been younger, she was as tall as Yumi.

"Listen, Yolei. I was NEVER after Ken. It was actually the other way around. But that's in the distant past. He no longer drools over me." seeing Yolei raising an eyebrow. "Plus, a little _birdie _told me you and him made it official, during that fire-specter attack, inside that cave."

Yolei blushed like mad. Yumi smirked and commented:

"I don't get why you like him. The Ken I remember from 1st grade was a total gogglehead. He was always bragging, trying to convince me he was a big shot. All to impress me." Yumi shook her head.

"Really? Maybe that's why Ken and Davis are DNA Digivolution partners. I never imagined Ken with goggles." Yolei pictured her crush with goggles. She took a mental note. "_Maybe I should ask Ken to wear goggles, one day. He would look cute."_

The dreamy look on the glasses-wearing girl didn't go unnoticed to the raven-haired.

"Imagining old Ichijouji with goggles, aren't we?"

Yolei flushed again, but then she recalled something:

"You know, Ken told me that a certain _cat_ told him that a certain girl had a crush on Ulrich Stern." it was Yumi's turn to blush and Yolei's to be triumphant.

_Next day…_

"_I have chosen this place because it's well protected. I'm activating the Spire … now!"_ Izzy announced, his voice echoing from the sky. The heroes were in the Polar region of the Digital World. A control spire had just spouted from the ground, in the top of a plateau. However, this one a green glow and the Skidbladnir was attached to the tower.

"_Our digimon will be the first line of defense, while the others will stay close by the Skid, protecting Aelita._" Izzy reminded.

"You don't need to remind us that, Izzy. We heard the plan inside out." Yolei complained.

"_Maybe, but perhaps I should remind you that XANA sent his welcoming committee_." Izzy warned, as several red squares appeared on his screen.

In the Digital World, monsters, including Tarantulas, Mantas, Crabs, Lobscions and Jeremie arrived. The XANA Warrior was riding on the back of a Manta. The three Ultimates in the first line of defense stood ready.

"They're here." Silphymon pointed to the enemy.

"Charge!" Jeremie roared and the monsters ran to the digimon.


	10. Ep 9 XANA's Infection PART I

**Episode 9: XANA's infection PART I**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot; **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6); **

**the OverSkate (Episode 3);**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7);**

**Pakumon (Episode 8).**

**This chapter is the first half of the main Season one cliffhanger. **

**A single cough would have extreme consequences.**

"Why from every place in this Digital World, they had to choose this one to activate their tower?" complained Jeremie, rhetorically. They were in the Polar region of the Digital World. Despite Jeremie was dressed like a skier, the cold could still affect him. Ironically, his ice powers only made him more vulnerable to the cold.

"Darn this cold!" cursed Jeremie, while cough violently. The XANA Warrior could spot the green glowing Control Spire. The Lyoko Warriors were using it to help Franz Hopper get to the Digital World.

Jeremie was busy dealing with Shakkoumon. The monsters were having problems defeating the other two Ultimates. The Lyoko Warriors were closer by the tower, protecting Aelita and the Skidbladnir. The pinkette was using the ship's interface to program the tower. So far things were going well for the good guys.

"If we keep this up, Daddy will be able to cross to this world!" said Aelita to her friends, gleeful with the idea of seeing her father again.

Meanwhile, in the van, Jeremie fired another freezing ray at Shakkoumon. That did little harm to the Digimon.

"You'll have to do better than that. Justice Beam!" the heat vision rays almost stroke Jeremie, had he not created a wall of ice.

"Easy for you to say, you're from this world, while I'm not." hissed the blond.

"But this is your environment, Jack Frost!" retaliated the giant iron angel.

"That only makes matters worse." replied Jeremie, coughing.

"Wow, don't tell me you caught a cold. The great Icestein has caught a cold."

"You tell him, Shakkoumon!" cheered TK.

Jeremie raised his spikes to perform another freezing attack, but a fit of coughruined everything. The XANA Warrior coughedso much that, unbeknownst to everyone, a small portion of dark gaseous substance was spat out of his mouth. The freezing wind took that substance, that didn't disperse, like smoke would have.

"Kachina Bombs!" Shakkoumon used his signature move, which caught the coughing XANA Warrior off guard. Jeremie was devirtualized before he could say 'Lyoko'.

"Great job, Shakkoumon!" said Cody, enthusiastically. However, Cody's glee wasn't meant to last, for the black substance that Jeremie coughedout was still there. Against all the odds, it went right into Cody's mouth. The short brunette boy began to cough.

"Cody, don't tell you caught a cold from that guy." said TK.

"I'm Ok. But, better than that, we're winning." said the younger digidestined. XANA's monsters were no match to three powerful Ultimates. Soon enough, the procedure was complete.

"We did it! It's ready!" Aelita cried out, enthusiastically. Recognizing defeat, the remaining monsters retreated. The Digimon didn't even bother going after them.

"So, your father can come here now?" asked Paildramon.

"No, it will take him some time, but now nothing can prevent him from getting here." said Aelita, analyzing the data on the screen.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Later, back in the real world, the Digidestined were at Izzi's. The red-head was explaining the situation, with a radiant smile on his face.

"Aelita's dad will be able to reach the Digital World by this afternoon. However, he won't be able to Materialize himself. He prefers to do that after XANA is defeated."

"And, what about Aelita and the others?" asked Gatomon.

"They'll be staying in the Digital World, on the Skidbladnir, awaiting Hopper's arrival." Izzi answered.

"With Aelita's dad, XANA won't have a chance!" Davis shouted, excitedly.

"Davis, XANA might have been created by Hopper, but that doesn't mean the creator is more powerful than the creation. Just compare me and Kimeramon. He could squash me like a cockroach. " elucidated Ken.

"Don't compare yourself with that monster, Ken." said Wormmon.

"What should we do next?" asked Kary.

"We just have to wait. Hopper sent me an e-mail claiming that he wants to meet us, when he arrives. According with my calculations, he will get this afternoon, at the spot where the Skid is stationed." told Izzi.

Cody coughed a little and stood up:

"Guys, I'll go get some air."

"Are you OK, Cody?" said Yolei. She looked casually at his hands. "Your left hand looks a bit pale."

As a matter of fact, Cody's hand had a grey tone, while the rest of his skin had its natural color. He took a closer look at his hand, but dismissed that, unworriedly.

"Are you alright, Cody?" inquired Upamon, worried. "I'll go with you."

"No, I'll be fine."

"But…"

"I said 'no', Upamon!" hissed Cody and with that, he stormed off the room and the apartment. The digidestined looked at the door that Cody had just closed, stunned.

"What's wrong with him? What bug has crawled up his butt?" asked Davis to nobody in particular.

"What? A bug has crawled up Cody's butt?" inquired DemiVeemon who had been paying no attention to the whole conversation.

"Maybe he just needs to take some fresh air." pointed Kary. Patamon yawned and suggested:

"Who wants to play Monopoly?"

_Meanwhile, with Cody…_

Outside, Cody was walking close by the river. The scenario was calming; however, Cody didn't feel calm at all. It was as if, with each hack he felt less happy and more frustrated. It was as if Cody needed a reason to be upset.

'_Why did Upamon had to persist about going with me? Can't that digimon stay out of other people business? That nosy, stupid, useless bunch of digital dust!' _Cody muttered mentally._ 'What? What am I thinking? Upamon is my partner and my best friend. I would never think such things about him. I would never… accept that weak digimon as _MY _partner!'_

Cody mentally slapped himself for that:

'_What? What's gotten into to you, Cody Hida? Why are you saying these things?'_

'_Because that's what you truly believe.' _suggested a voice on his head. A sneaky voice, full of malice.

'_What? Who are you?' _asked Cody, into his own mind.

'_I am _you_, your mind, your spirit, yourself.' _answered the voice.

'_No you're not! You can't be _me_. _I_ am _me_.' _–retorted Cody. The voice said nothing. Cody just blinked and shrugged:

"Maybe I should cut down on the liquid yogurt. It's making me talking to my own mind." Cody continued his walking. Unbeknownst to him, the pallorof his hand extended, covering his entire left arm. He ended up with an old lady on his way. She was on her knees, groping the ground beneath her.

"Sorry, but what are you doing, lady? Cody asked politely. The old lady gazed up to the boy.

"Oh, I'm looking for my glasses, young man. I think I dropped them around here." she answered. "Could you please help me finding them?"

"**And why should I? What's in it for me?**" Cody burst in a sudden rude and dark voice. His eyes went wide when he realized what he had just said. The old lady gazed at him, taken aback.

"I will give you some money, if you want to help me." she offered.

"Money? No, I'll gladly help you find your glasses!" Cody got on his knees and commenced searching for the glasses.

"Then what do you want?" asked the old lady, puzzled by the sudden change from rudeness to politeness of the boy.

"I want nothing…**Except everything you've got!**" Cody bellowed in the same deep voice that sure wasn't his. The aged woman looked at him, slightly scared. Cody realizedabout the last sentence he said and stammered:

"No! No…No, I don't … I expect nothing for doing what is right…**You better pay up now!**" Cody his mouth with both his hands, before he said something worse.

"You know, young man…I think I'll go home without my glasses… I don't need them to see much…so, thanks anyway…Hum, sorry to have disturb you." the woman said, looking at Cody as if he was crazy.

"Very well, if that is what you desire." he whispered, walking away. The pallorspread even more, reaching his left shoulder and neck. "**But that's pretty stupid, if you ask me.**"

"Such a disturbed boy." mumbled the old lady, when Cody was out of earshot. She then bumped into a street lamp.

_Now, with the Lyoko Warriors…_

While Aelita and Ulrich remained guarding the Skid, Yumi, Odd and William went to explore the zone. They arrived at a small digimon village on a snowy valley. Despite the cold, the Lyoko Warrior couldn't feel it. Jeremie was the only who felt the cold, because XANA had bounded himself to the digital world and he was a part of XANA, now.

Aelita had virtualized a bracelet for Yumi, so they could stay in touch with the Skid. The Lyoko Warriors stopped by the entrance of the village and descended from their vehicles. Form the three humans, William was the most affected by the snow.

"I hate snow." he roared, descending from his OverSkate.

"Why?" Yumi asked casually.

"It's cold and wet." he muttered, eyeing the white frozen water with distaste. Yumi just frowned; William never seemed to be a guy with weird dislikes.

"Why don't we find something to eat, guys?" suggested Odd, spotting a house like tavern.

"There we go again." Yumi muttered.

William gave a look around and noticed that the few passerby polar digimon couldn't help but to stare at the humans. William ignored them and took a few steps forward, not enjoying the feeling of the snow under his feet. His distraction made him trip onto something, hitting with his face on the snow.

"Blasted snow!" he cursed.

"Hey, watch where you're going." a irritated voice said under William. The Lyoko Warrior stood up and saw a Patamon on the snow. However, this Patamon instead of orange, was purple.

"Oh! Sorry…You're a Patamon, right?" William asked, recalling the name of TK's partner. The digimon just rooled his eyes:

"Wrong! I'm Tsukaimon." the digimon corrected, indignantly, as if William had offended him.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking…Is just that…I just hate snow." the human tried to apologize. The rookie eyed him with curiosity:

"Join the club." the bat-eared digimon grumbled. It was William's turn to look curious:

"Then, why do you live here?" he asked. Tsukaimon disdained gazed became sad:

"I use to live in the File Island. But, one day the Digimon Emperor attacked and destroyed my home. The survivors and I flee to these mountains. Even though he has been defected, I still could not return, yet." he told, his voice barely hiding hints of sorrow.

"I'm sorry." William admitted sincerely.

"Hey, William, we have to go! Aelita says it's urgent!" Yumi shouted, climbing onto her OverWing.

"Sorry but I have to go." William said to the digimon.

"Hey, don't you forget you own me for having tripped on me!" the rookie said out loud. "You won me!"

"Don't worry, I'll pay you for that." William promised, believing he would never see that grumpy rookie ever again.

_A while before, in the human world…_

Cody carried on his walk. A while later he ended up on a deserted crossroad, at a STOP sign close by a puddle. Cody coughed violently; this time, he didn't feel upset. He felt enraged! With a senseless desire of strangling something or someone. A small puppy was passing by and began licking his shoes, tenderly.

"Excuse me, but you're getting my shoes dirty." Cody hissed, giving the animal a wild, murdering look. The dog didn't seem unfazed by that look and just stood there looking at Cody, waggingits small tail, expecting the boy to pet him in the head.

Without warning, Cody savagely grabbed the STOP sign and gave it a pull, disrooting it from the ground, like a toy. The enraged digidestined hit the puppy mercilessly with the sign. The puppy went away, whining in pain with a broken leg. Cody just stood there, with a relaxed expression on his face:

"**Ahhh! That was very satisfying.**" It took Cody a few seconds to understand what he had just done. Shocked, Cody dropped the sign.

"God! What's happening to me?" terrified, Cody gazed at his own hands. "This isn't me! What's happening to me?"

His answer was another coughfit. A much stronger than before. Cody fell on his knees, and kept his head low, coughing. He took a closer look at the puddle so he could see his face on the reflection. The left side of his face was grey skinned.

"I fell so…I fell…**stronger!**" the last word was spoken with the same deep and dark voice from before. Cody's eyes were completely dark and his pupils were now a red version of XANA's insignia. Cody screamed like never before:

"NO! No! No! No…This has to be a nightmare! This can't be happening!" Cody walked back, terrified. His face twisted in pain, before changing into a smirk:

"**Oh yes, it can. And, it **_**is **_**happening.**" Cody hissed, in that creepy tone. Another painful twist.

"Must…keep…control! … **Yeah, gotta get a grip, Binky-boy!**..." Cody yelped in pain and fell on his knees, again. "Need help…Aelita…the others…Franz Hopper…they must know…something…Must find Aelita…I…**I'm gonna find and kill those Lyoko brats!**" Cody ran, while sending an e-mail to Aelita, via D-Terminal:

'_I need your help. I'll meet you in the Digital World, where you have the Skid stationed. Urgent! Cody.'_

"I … need … to tell … the others! **Wait … for what? So, they began to distrust me?**"

_Later, at the Digital World_

"Ulrich, the radar just picked someone approaching. I think it's Cody." Aelita announced, form inside her Skid-cabin. Ulrich was on his Nav-Skid.

"Hum…Wonder what's so urgent that he had to come alone here." said the German.

"Well, let's find out. Disembark!" She and Ulrich disappeared from their places and reappeared outside the ship. They ran up to Cody, who was walking towards them with a cloak over his body and a hood covering his face.

"It's Cody." answered the hooded figure. "Where are Yumi and the others?"

"They were searching the place, in case XANA had prepared an ambush." said Ulrich, gazing strangely at the newcomer.

"Cody, you sent me an e-mail saying that you need our help, urgently. What for?" asked Aelita. Cody was about to say something, when he shook up a little and moaned:

"Are you alright? Cody, what is problem? What do you want?" she inquired, motherly. Cody shrugged and whispered so silently that Aelita and Ulrich had to lean closer to hear him.

"I…I want…" Cody unleashed a wave of red energy that knocked down both Lyoko Warriors. He then ripped off his cloak. "**I want the destruction of my enemies!**"

Aelita and Ulrich gasped bewildered and horrified at Cody. Instead of his normal clothes, he was wearing a traditional dark blue kendo practice outfit, with no helmet (called _Men_). _Dô _(the armor for the chest) had the Eye of XANA on the front. The _tare _(the waist protection) had a few Japanese inscriptions _Watashi wa hakai no pasu ni ken no michi ni shitagau_ (I follow the way of the sword to the path of destruction).The _Hakama _and _Keigoki _(these are the only part of the Kendo equipment that are clothing)were black. Cody's skin was grey and the eyes were completely black, with XANA's insignia as red pupils. He had no _shinai_ (wooden sword used in Kendo), however. The Kendo armor gave him a more corpulentlook than he had. All in all, he was the perfect picture of an evil Kendo swordsman.

**(A.N.: I have Cody's XANA infected outfit on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark)**

Cody made a gesture with his hand and Aelita and Ulrich were pushed down, by an invisible force. He made another gesture and a _shinai_, made of red energy, similar to the aura of activated towers, virtualized on his hand.

"**And, now, for the grand finale! **_**Sūpāsupīdo**_**!**" Cody jumped high above Aelita and Ulrich's heads, landing on the Skid cabin. He pointed his sword down, planning to pierce the cabin. Fortunately, pink plasma surrounded his body and he was unable to move. It didn't take a genius to know that Aelita had just attacked him with her Energy Fields.

"Sorry kiddo, but that hurts us more than it does you." Ulrich called out. Cody decided it would be better to finish off the opponents before destroying the Skid. The Samurai unsheathed both his blades and the _Kenshi_ jumped out of the virtual ship, with his red lightning _shinai_ raised.

"Come at me, Darth Vader." Ulrich said, though he was going to try and not hurt Cody.

Aelita sent two voice messages through her bracelet. Cody took notice of that and decided to dispatch this fight, before the others showed up. Aelita summoned her wings and flew high above the two sword wielders.

"Ulrich, remember we can't hurt him. We don't know what has happened to Cody." she informed.

"How do we know he is not a Specter?" Ulrich asked, in a defense position. He didn't want to take the risk of hurting his friend.

"The Skid can identify specters. It is the _real_ Cody." Aelita declared from above. Cody attacked, swayinghis sword. His movements were rapid for someone wearing armor. In fact, so rapid that Ulrich needed his SuperSprint to avoid most of the hits. However, Cody had a lucky blow and hit Ulrich on the torso. The Samurai fell back. Cody was about to blow him away with another swing of his _shinai_:

"Energy Field!" a well aimed pink plasma projectile hit Cody and made him fell back a few meters, too.

"You OK?" Aelita attended Ulrich.

"Yeah, but I don't think he'll give us a break." the Samurai stood up. Cody was already prepared for another strike. This time, he heldhis sword horizontally, like pointing the tip at his enemies with it. The _Kenshi _began spinning, increasing gradually his speed. The spinning blade now resembled a big red ring around a spinning dark blue blur.

"_**Kiai!**_" Cody bellowed, the red ring that was the spinning sword unleashed a ring of red energy that extended rapidly. Ulrich crossed his twin katanas and Aelita intertwined two Energy Fields. Their figurative shields were no match for Cody's maneuver. They took the hit right on and fell behind, with sparks dancing over them. Their Life Points were almost up. Cody approached the fallen Lyoko Warriors, with a speed superior to Ulrich's SuperSprint. He pointed with his blade at their throats.

"**See ya!**" lowered his weapon but stopped before touching them. Cody face showed surprise; he realized that is body wasn't obeying him. He couldn't move for a faint pink aura was surrounding him.

"Yeah!"

"Laser Arrow!"

"Energy Disk!" three voices announced behind him. He took a triple powerful blow and was tossed into the snow covered pine trees.

"About time." Ulrich said, watching Odd, William and Yumi. The _Geisha _used her Telekinesis to paralyze Cody, while she, Odd and William attacked him from behind.

"OK, guys, what is going on here? Who's that joker?" Odd assisted Ulrich in standing up.

"XANA has gotten Cody. I don't know how, though." Aelita explained.

"What?" Odd gasped.

"The Scyphozoa?" suggested Yumi.

"I don't think so." Aelita said. "The Scyphozoa hasn't show up in a while, and we never lost track of Cody during the battle. I also called Kari and…"

Cody re-emerged from the trees, with a killing desire on his face. He looked like a wild animal who had just succumbed to vicious and insane instinct.

"He doesn't look too happy." Odd whispered.

"Then, lets help him cool off his rage. Energy Disk!" William shouted.

"_**Enerugī no bāsuto**__**!**_" Cody just summoned a powerful red energy aura. The red light dissolved William's attack before it could hit the _Kenshi_.

"Cool." complimented the Scottish boy.

"Don't compliment him, William." scoldAelita. Everybody attack but their efforts were rendered useless. Cody made a gesture, like shooingan annoying fly and the heroes were thrown hardly against a pine tree.

"_**Sūpāsupīdo**_**!**" Cody ran to his downed opponents, but his onslaughtwas once again frustrated by a newcomer.

"Static Force!" a ball of red-pink energy hit the _Kenshi _on his back. Cody fell forwards but immediately stood up.

"**Oh, great! The more, the merrier.**" Cody said, sarcastically. Paildramon, Silphymon and MagnaAngemon arrived, with the younger Digidestined and Armadillomon.

"Ok, where's the fire?" Davis looked at Aelita, having not realized who they were facing.

"Cody!" Armadillomon yelped, with frightened eyes. The digidestined were astonished. That couldn't be!

"**Hello, **_**friends**_**! **_**Sūpāsupīdo!**_" Cody moved like a thunder, striking Silphymon relentlessly. The Ultimate cried out, de-digivolving into beaten up Poromon and Salamon, before anyone could blink.

"Cable Catchers!" Paildramon shot his finger cables, grabbing Cody firmly. Or so he though until Cody pushing him away with an invisible force field.

"**You've got to do better than that, Binky-Boy.**" the evil _Kenshi _spat. "_**Kiai!**_" the red energy ring did knocked out the Ultimate, but didn't put him out.

"Energy Fields!"

"Laser Arrow!" the five Lyoko Warriors stroke again, but Cody merely blocked the attacks, with a rapid sword maneuver.

"How are we going to beat him? He's too fast." Ulrich shouted.

"I have an idea. Guys, keep him busy!" Aelita shouted to the last two Ultimates.

The pinkette began to sing and the ground beneath Cody immediately swallowed him, only leaving his head at the surface.

"Good job, Aelita." said MagnaAngemon. The digidestined and Lyoko Warriors approached Cody, who was trying to break free.

"Oh, my…What has happen to him?" Kari inquired, with an obvious tone of sadness on her voice. Yolei was also distressed to see her childhood friend in that state. But Armadillomon was, by far, the most affected of all.

"Whatever XANA did to him, it surely wasn't a normal type of possession." Aelita explained. The ground began to shake. The red growing aura surrounding Cody glowed menacingly. Everybody stood back and the Digimon reassumed their fighting positions.

The earth where he was buried exploded and Cody rise, floating in thin air. His gaze showed anger like never before:

"**I AM XANA, YOU FOOLS! YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME WITH SUCH A WEAK TRICK!**"

Armadillomon walked forward and talked to him:

"Cody this isn't you. Please stop! You're my partner!" the small rookie pleaded. Cody raised his sword as a response, intending to cut the digimon in two.

"**Say your prayers!**"

"No!" MagnaAngemon blocked Cody's attack with his Excalibur. "Armadillomon, he's not the Cody you knew. Soul Banish!"

MagnaAngemon shot a beam from his hand, which pushed Cody away. Paildramon attack with his 'Desperato Blasters', but the effect was little.

"How many Life Points does he have?" Yumi questioned, tossing her fans.

"I don't know, but…" Aelita's star-bracelet beeped. She analyzed that data input and shouted merrily. "Almost there. My father is almost arriving at this world."

Upon hearing this, Cody grunted in frustration. If he could destroy the Skid, the Lyoko Warriors would no longer be a thorn on his side. But, if Franz Hopper arrived at this world, it would only be a matter of time, before he figured out a way to virtualize them directly into the Digital World.

"**This I cannot allow!**" he bellowed. Cody unleashed a wave of red energy. Despite been exhausted, the adrenalingave him strength to fight harder.

"_**Kiai!**_" that attack was more intense than the previous ones, making the two Ultimates revert into In-trainings.

"Oh, no!" Kari cried out. Cody summoned another force field that put the Lyoko Warriors out cold.

"_**Sūpāsupīdo!**_" the _Kenshi _jumped, victorious to the top of the Skid.

"NO! Cody, please, don't do it!" Aelita half screamed, half begged. The Kenshi raised his sword and with one blow…he cut the Skidbladnir in two! The two halves of the virtual ship collapsed on the digital ground, bursting into data.

Everybody, both human and digimon alike were astonished. But Aelita felt like it was a nightmare come true. Once again, her father was lost to her…

"No." she whispered, falling on her knees, with tears coming from her eyes. She heard Cody laughing cruelly. She looked up at him, but what she saw was unbelievable.

Cody laughed, laughed with a victorious maniac chuckle. However, a light coming from behind him called his attention. He turned around and was stupefied. In front of him, a giant Essence Bubble, surrounded by smaller bubbles stood floating.

"**Franz Hopper.**" Cody cursed. He didn't even had a second to attack for the small bubbles entered the _Kenshi's _body. A sudden tiredness and weakness took over him. Cody felt on his knees, looking straight into the bubble. He may have lost the battle, but he had won the war. "**You've lost, old man.**"

The _Kenshi _fell onto the ground, unconscious.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Just a personal note about Cody's powers:**

_**Sūpāsupīdo!**_** It's Japanese for 'super speed' and its similar to Ulrich's super sprint.**

_**Enerugī no bāsuto**__**! **_**It's Japanese for 'energy burst'. Its Cody's most powerful technique and takes a lot of power to use it.**

_**Kiai**_** is a Kendo battle cry.**


	11. Ep 10 XANA's Infection PART II

**Episode 10: XANA's infection PART II**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot; **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6); **

**the OverSkate (Episode 3); **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7);**

**Pakumon (Episode 8);**

**Cody's XANA infected uniform (Episode 9)**

**This chapter is the second half of the main Season one cliffhanger. **_**Italics **_**is someone's POV (you can guess who)**

_Everything was calm and sleepy. The big bird of metal where mommy, grandpa and I were on was taking us to our new home. I was sad. Not because of changing home, but because my daddy had just disappeared._

_My mommy had said I wouldn't be able to see daddy anymore. She was crying when she told me that. Grandpa said that one day I would see daddy again. But I would have to wait much time. They both told me one thing more thing: I would understand why daddy leaved when I became older. I couldn't wait for that! If I became older fast, maybe I could find daddy and ask him why he left._

_Something outside called my attention. The sky was funny; I could see mountains on the sky. Funny! Mommy always said the sky was blue, like the sea._

"_Mommy, why is the sky changing?" I asked to mom, who was asleep, like my grandpa. She woke up and gazed outside. Mommy shrieked, like when she usually sees a cockroach. I don't know why; cockroaches are funny._

"_Cody, I don't know…but don't look outside." mommy whispered with her voice shaking. I wanted to look at the funny sky again, but mommy and daddy always told me to never disobey them._

_The big bird began to shake. I peeked out of the window and saw ice covering the wing to the bird. Everybody on the bird began to scream. I could feel the bird starting to fall. I didn't know why but I began to scream too. I only knew that something bad was happening._

_Then, the bird stopped. It felt like it was floating. I peaked outside and saw an even bigger red bird carrying the big metal bird. And there was also a big blue bug._

"_Mommy, grandpa, look!" I pointed to the big monsters, but they were already gone. And they weren't the only ones. Everything and everyone were gone. Even mommy and grandpa were gone. The bird was empty. I looked around, scared, when black tentacles grabbed me and pushed to the darkness._

"_MOMMY! DADDY!" I screamed but they didn't come. "GRANDPA!"_

_Everything was black, like when I closed my eyes to sleep. I felt my body became heavier as I sunk into the darkness. A voice…it sounded like a grown up sir…he whispered to me:_

'_Be strong, Cody, my son. You are gravely hill."_

On Reality…

The heroes were still in the Digital World. Izzy had called Cody's family saying he would be sleeping on his house. Franz Hopper had knocked out Cody and the others transported him to a cave nearby. They needed a safe place, in case XANA attacked.

The most affected by this were the Digidestined and Ulrich. Armadillomon was heartbrokenduring the entire walk to the cave. His sorrow made him de-digivolve into Upamon, who was been carried by Ulrich. The samurai tried to confort the little digimon; he had become kind of attached to Cody and his digimon. The others had the unconscious _Kenshi_ tied up with a strong Golden Noose, while Hopper used some of his abilities to help the infected digidestined. Most of Cody's XANA attire was gone, though there were still fragments of his amour several places of his body, like scars.

"Daddy, can you cure him?" Aleita asked her father.

"No, I can't. This is infection isn't a simple XANAfication. Your friend is not possessed by XANA. He is XANA." the digital bubble explained solemnly. "A part of XANA's own being is inside of him, consuming Cody's mind. What's more, I'll say this happened by accident, otherwise, XANA would have sent his monsters to assist his new 'twin'."

"So, what can we do for him?" Yolei inquired scared for what could happen to her best friend.

"I have reached for his spirit and cleaned some of the corruption on his mind, but I've only stalled for time. XANA's infection has already sprouted roots on Cody's body." Hopper whispered. Cody steered and opened his eyes. His once again green eyes.

"He's awake!" TK yelped. Everybody ran up to him. Upamon jumped from Ulrich's arms to his partner with a unexpected speed.

"Cody! Are you OK?" the yellow In-training asked.

"Upamon? Guys? Where…" Cody asked, only then horror spread in his features as he recalled what he had done in the past few hours. He looked down, unable to look into the faces of his friends.

"XANA's essence is crawling in your body, possessing your mind, infecting your thoughts. It will end up consuming your own essence." the bubble spoke.

"Please, you have to help me." the digidestined pleaded, looking back up.

"I have done what I could to help you regain control for now…but XANA will take over you, soon enough. He's no longer the same program I created; he has evolved beyond the human understanding. He is now more evil than digital." Hopper explained, softly. "You have not been infected by a mere uncontrolled multi-agent system. You have been infected by pure evil. It's all in your mind; therefore it can only be exterminated by the good within you."

"I…I can't do it." Cody sobbed.

"I'm sorry, but this is a battle that only you can struggle. I can help you, but you have to fight XANA's infection."

"We're all with you, Cody." TK said.

"That's right, don't let XANA win." Upamon cheered, with a ghost of a smile. Unfortunately, that didn't encourage Cody's spirit.

"No…I can't do it…You must help me…You must…You…" Cody facial features became harsher, colder and filled with hate. "**You worthless mammals and piles of 0s and 1s! I'll have you all killed, you worms!**"

Cody's XANA Kendo armor began to restore itself. Cody's skin and eyes darkened; the infection had reawakened! The _Kenshi_ tried to break the Noose, only to find it to strong and that his strength wasn't fully back. However, that didn't stop him from keeping shooting threats at the heroes.

"Oh, no!" Upamon sobbed in a teary voice.

"**I'll slaughter every last human and digimon in this cave! I shall tear you all apart, Binky-Boys! AH! AH! AH!**"

_Again, in Cody's subconscious…_

_Cannot fight it…Not alone…cannot do it alone._

_ I'm too weak…too vulnerable._

'Do you give up?_' a voice whispered in my head. It wasn't XANA's voice, however. But I didn't care; there was nothing that could help me defeat this infection._

_ '_Will you abandon them?' _the voice asked, again._

_This time I looked around the darkness in which I was sobbing and crying._

_ 'Abandon who?' I inquired._

_ '_You friends and family. XANA will conquer the world if you don't fight this disease._'_

_ 'Together they can destroy me. They will keep up the fight against XANA without me. It doesn't matter.'_

'You know your friends would never raise a finger against you. If you don't stop this infection, it shall force you attacking and killing your companions. Without anyone else to fight XANA, he shall control the world.'

_With that, the dark space where I was filled with light. I looked I front of me and saw a city in ruins…it was Tokyo! In the suburbs____of the destroyed city, hundreds of people were 'working'. Children, teenagers, adults, elders, both males and females. They were all in bad shape, with severe injuries, and very thin, like they hadn't eat for weeks. It was horrible!_

_ The slaves were all pulling ropes, raising a giant statue. I looked at two specific individuals. My heart sunk! It was mom and grandpa!_

'Can't you feel these people suffering, like it was your own? Will you let this happen?' _that strange voice whispered. I looked casually at the statue; a great mistake. The statue had my face! It was me in my XANA Kendo uniform. I kneeled, burying my face on my hands, crying even harder. The environment became the dark space, once again. '_Will evil for ever rule the world and your heart?

_ 'Why are you showing me this? Do you want me to suffer even more!' I screamed, sobbing. A figure walked up to me. Another shock. It was me! A replica of me made of light, contrasting with the surrounding darkness._

_ '_I'm showing you all of this so that you fight XANA. You already learnt what will happen if you don't.' _he, or rather, _I _told myself._

_ 'Who are you?'_

'I'm what remains of your soul: almost nothing. If this sickness isn't stopped, you will become the disgrace of the human race and I shall be devoured by this darkness.'

_'But…I' I fell on my knees again, tears wetting my cheeks. 'I can't do it alone.'_

_ 'You are not alone, my son.' a male voice soothing voice whispered. In the next second, my dad was in front of me!_

_ 'We are always with you.' now a female voice said. A voice that recognized immediately._

_ 'Mom!'_

_ 'Don't forget about us!' a third voice whispered. I turned around and saw grandpa, Armadillomon, Yolei, Ulrich, TK and all the others._

_ 'We never face the evil stuff alone, remember?' Armadillomon said._

_ 'We're a team. We're supposed to work together.' Kari cheered._

_ 'Cody, you're a digidestined. You have both the crests of Knowledge and Loyalty. Use them!" Joe reminded me. It was true! I am a digidestined. I had my friends to support me, my crest to give me strength and my soul to fight!_

_ As these thoughts ran through my head, my body glowed with grey and purple light. When the light faded away, I was covered back in my Kendo armor. Though, now the Eye of XANA had been replaced by the Crests of Loyalty and Knowledge. Plus, instead of one, I had two swords. One of the blades was made of yellow and purple light. The other was made of grey and white light. My all body and armor glowed in a eerie light. _

_I slashed both _shinais_ at the unending blackness surrounding me. A gash____appeared in the darkness, revealing a white lighted space. I repeated the move again and again, until only remains of the dark survived in the now white space. The stains of darkness morphed into dozens of dark Jeremies, all laughing maniacally._

_I slashed my _shinais, _cutting some of the Jeremies, destroying them. I repeated the attacks over and over again._

"_Kiai!" two rings, one of light purple light and the other grey extended form my _shinais, _annihilating all of the remaining Jeremies._

_Back in reality…_

Cody broke free from the Golden Noose. His eyes glowed with fury. The _Kenshi _virtualized his _shinai_, ready for the kill. The Lyoko Warriors and digimon put themselves between the digidestined and Cody.

He was ready to attack when his red _shinai _broke apart in his hand. His armor was suffering the same problem. Cracks formed all over the Kendo suit, with a white light coming out of the cracks. Cody cried out before the armor exploded and he fell on the floor unconscious, then been tackled by Upamon and heldby his friends.

Half an hour later, Cody had woken up. When he regained is strength, Cody walked up to Ulrich and his team:

"Guys, I…I wanted to say I'm sorry for destroying the Skid."

"Actually, there's no problem about that." Aelita retorted with a smile.

"What?"

"I have just received a warning from the SuperComputer. The program I've been testing is operational. We can now virtualize directly into this World. The Skid was no longer useful, anyway." the pinkette explained, smiling.

"And, as for you" Franz Hopper spoke. "If you hadn't defeated the infection, you would have certainly destroyed us all. It's to you we should be thanking."

Cody nodded and turned to his friends, especially to Upamon. Before he could speak, TK raised a hand, silencing him.

"No need for that, Cody. It wasn't your fault." the blond said with a smile. Everybody else nodded, but that gave Cody and idea.

"Huh, actually…" Cody put on a small grin. "I was going to ask you if I looked cool in Kendo attire."

The others sweatdropped at that, but when Cody laughed, they broke into laughs too.


	12. Ep 11 Wrecked Party

**Episode 11: Wrecked party**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot; **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6); **

**the OverSkate (Episode 3); **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (1)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7);**

**Pakumon (Episode 8);**

**Cody's XANA infected uniform (Episode 9)**

"Guys, shouldn't we celebrate?" inquired a gleeful Davis. The 02 digidestined and the Lyoko Warriors, minus Aelita, were walking in the streets of Odaiba. The Lyoko Warriors would be staying in Japan for another day, and then returning to Kadic, via Digital World.

"Celebrate?" Ken asked.

"We got Hopper and Cody is back from his 'creepy XANA infected' stage. We should have a party. With burgers and pizza." the googlehead knew he had said the magic words; Odd beamed at the mention of food.

"Count me in, Davis! Just so long there's cake."

"Just so long there's food, Odd will be there." Ulrich joked, which earned him a furtiveglare from Odd. "Though, I guess we deserve a little break."

"After facing XANA's wacko schemes, we could relax a bit." Gatomon said.

Everybody else complied. The digimon were especially thrilled about the idea.

"How about in my house, tomorrow night? My parents and siblings will be out for the weekend." Yolei proposed.

"Can I have rice balls?" pleaded Minomon, with puppy dog eyes.

"Only one, remember the last but onetime you went on a picnic." Ken responded, sternly.

"Good, now we only have to tell Aelita." Cody said. "Speaking of which, why did she remained in the digital world?"

"She's still in the Digital World with her dad. Those two have a lot of catching up to do." Yumi answered.

"Since Mimi is gonna stay in Japan for a couple more days and Joe is back, too." reminded Yolei. "They should be invited, too."

"If we get Mimi to come, I'm sure Izzy will be there too." TK mused.

Kari picked up her D-Terminal and so did the other Digidestined. For unfortunate young heroes, XANA's sight was focused on them, as usual.

_In XANA's lair…_

"**This is unacceptable!**" XANA growled. He had been watching the whole talk, including Davis claiming about Cody's _creepy XANA infected state_. The whole idea of his foes throwing up a victory party made him furious. "**My enemies are having a party, tomorrow night and I wasn't invited. They even got pizza, those insolent bastards!**"

Jeremie rolled his eyes. Ever since he and his master had arrived to this world, he had taken a lot of patience to get used to XANA's new tantrums.

"Master CJ…" Jeremie began only to be interrupted by his already angry lord.

"**Call me XANA, now. I've given up on the name 'CJ'. It ain't gansta enough, nigga.**" the program replied, muttering.

"OK, Master XANA, aren't you more furious over the fact that I accidentally contaminated one of the Digidestined with your own programming and you didn't use that chance, due to your ignorance of that fact?" Jeremie asked, already calculating the answer.

"**What?...Oh, yes, that too.**" XANA answered him uninterested. His tone returned to the previous angered state. "**But this whole party makes me madder. How come they decide to have a party without inviting the great XANA?**"

The XANA Warrior sighed. He knew where this was heading. No wonder those kids were always winning.

"**We are not letting them get away with this! We shall have our own party. I'll make sure mine is way better. We'll have **_**nachos**_** for food. **_**Nachos **_**are way better than pizza or burgers or all that stuff.**" XANA chuckled to himself. "**This party will be my perfect vengeance!**"

"Master XANA, if you really want revenge, why don't you use one of your ideas to attack them now, by surprise?" Jeremie suggested. XANA's smirk grew.

_In other part of the Digital World…_

Aelita and Franz were walking by the marginof a river, in the Digital World. Or rather, Aelita was walking, while Hopper floated.

"When the Skid was destroyed, I thought you were gone forever, Daddy." the pinkette confessed, still amazed that she was finally reunited with her father.

"So did I but fortunately, I managed to completely reach this world just a second before your virtual ship was destroyed." the Essence Bubble paused for a moment. "My precious, we have so much to catch on, and so little time. Though, that will have to wait, for I have something important to tell you: I have a theory of why XANA is acting like this."

Aelita narrowed her eyes; ever since the Lyoko Team and the Digidestined met, she had noticed XANA acted…well, _out-of-character_. Though the Multi-agent system had a personality, he never showed signs of it, before.

"According to what I gathered so far, this Digital World is virtual, but it's not just made out of data. It has life. Lyoko, on the other hand, is just a virtual world, completely lifeless and inhabited. When XANA inhabited Lyoko and later the World's Network, he was on his environment: a world of 0s and 1s. Now, he lives in a world where data isn't all. The power of the Digidestined's crest proves that. I believe that when he crossed to this world, his own mind was affected. He still has a cunning mind and now he has won a devious personality. I've noticed that when I tried to help your friend Cody."

"That must be it…I'm just glad we could save Cody." Aelita then pleaded. "Daddy, do you know of a way to cure Jeremie?"

The pinkette was the one who missed the computer genius the most. It's been now 4 months since XANA lured them into Lyoko and brainwashed Jeremie. Hopper unleashed a heavy sigh, despite having no mouth.

"I'm sorry Aelita, but I don't. The only way that I can think of to set him free is to destroy XANA. I have been analyzing the data of the basic structure of this World and it seems like XANA is nowhere and everywhere."

_Next day…_

The digi-destined were having a party and it was in full swing. Music, refreshments, and all the other usual party stuff. Odd had brought his DVD with Jim's disco performance of 'Paco: the King of Disco'. Aelita had mixing equipment and was the main source of music in the party. All the digidestined were present, even the senior group. The pinkette Lyoko Warrior was the soul of the party, her joy intoxicating everyone and everything. Joe was mainly interested in learning about the Lyoko Warriors. So far, the only thing he learned about them was what the others told them via D-Terminal. Now, he was talking with Ulrich, who wasn't exactly thrilled, but didn't want to be rude. Mimi was also interested, so she spent her time chatting with Izzy, who was more than glad to fill her in.

"So, they just go into these Scanners and are teleported to another Digital World. That would so cool! I would love to my look on Lyoko." Mimi squealed.

The digimon, mainly the In-training ones, where playing a game of their own invention: 'XANA War!' Demi-Veemon was Jeremie and Wormmon was a Lobscion, teamed up against Upamon, as Shakkoumon, and Poromon, as Silphymon. While the rookies were chatting about the adventures some of them had, thanks to XANA. Kari and TK were with Yolei, Ken and Cody playing Truth or Dare.

"Dare." Kari choose. Yolei thought for a while, before smirking mischievously.

"I dare you to kiss TK on the lips." she said. Needless to say, Kari blushed madly. "Come on, do it. It's a dare."

Kari looked timidly at TK, who mimicked her. Opting to do it as quickly as possible, to avoid dragging out the embarrassment, Kari gave TK a quick peck in the lips. The blond seemed to have frozen after the kiss. Yolei just shook her head:

"I said a kiss, not just a peck." but Ken come to Kari's rescue:

"No, that's good enough, Kari. Isn't that right, Yolei?" the indigo haired boy gave Yolei a convincing smile. She smiled back.

"I could never say 'no' to you."

"So, TK you lucky dog! You got yourself a girl, already." Matt showed up, having observed the all scene from the sidelines. He wasn't going to miss a chance of teasing his little brother.

"Come on, Matt. Leave them alone." Sora pleaded. TK didn't respond, blushing even deeper. Matt saw this as a better motive to tease him.

"I propose a toast in honor of the newest couple of our team!" Matt shouted, raising his glassof punch. "To Kari and TK!"

"Haw! They are so cute together." Mimi squealed, taking a glass of punch.

"Invite me for the wedding." Ulrich joked.

"Can I be your Maid of Honor?" Yumi asked.

"And I'm sure you want Ulrich to be the Best Man." Odd teased.

"Shut up, Odd!" both Yumi and Ulrich roared.

Everybody drunk, giving their congrats at the two blushing and embarrassed digidestined. TK gave death glares to his big brother. Tai made a mental note to have a small chat with TK after the party. Davis, on the other hand, had a hard glare. William saw that and walked up to him.

"Still having problems, hu?" the Scottish inquired. Davis shook his head.

"Nope, I've told myself there are other girls out there. I'm still accepting that. That's all."

William nodded. So far the party was going just great…but not for long. The lamps and every other electrical source of light in the room exploded.

"Wow, now the party has just become a blast." Odd joked. Electricity sparkled from the ceiling and Jeremie Belpois was Teleported into the middle of the room.

"Or not?" Odd commented. The Skier gave a menacing look at the Digidestined and Lyoko Warriors. The digimon immediately stood between him and their partners. Demi-Veemon and the other In-training digivolved into Rookies.

"Sorry I'm late for the party. I didn't get my invitation. Maybe the mailman lost it." the XANA Warrior spoke, unfazed by the challenging looks of his enemies.

"Give up, Belpois. You're outnumbered and out powered." Tai replied, harshly.

"True, but you dorks are outsized." he countered.

"What?"

Jeremie didn't give any further warning and he broke into a run, jumping out of the window, shattering the glass in the process. The children were either confused or stunned by that. Yolei had a unique expression: rage.

"Did Jeremie just jump out of a window?" Aelita asked rhetorically, being one of the stunned people of the group.

"Correction: he jumped out of _**my **_window!" Yolei steamed and walked at the broken window, roaring to the outside. "You're gonna pay for this window, Icestein! Literally!"

"Yolei calm down! XANA is attacking, ok." Kari reminded her.

"What did he meant by 'outsized'?" Sora asked. As if the Earth itself answered her question, the land shook up, sending everything and everyone to the floor.

"Wow, what was that?" Agumon asked, standing up.

"An earthquake?" Joe suggested.

"G-Guys. M-M-Maybe we should go outside." Yolei suggested with a cracking voice. She was once again looking through the window, though now the sky was her focus.

_In the streets of Odaiba…_

"Holy cow! It's gigantic! Bigger than Seto Kaiba's ego." Matt shouted, once they were all outside. Jeremie was not the only one XANA had Teleported. People were running away, almost like in an Apocalypse–scenario, away from the giant golem. The XANAfied Lyoko Warrior had brought _big _company with him. The new monster was a golem as tall as the Chrysler Building and was made out of black stone, hardened lava. All over his body, streams and sections of liquid lava were visible. The left arm had no hand, been a sort of massive sword-harm, instead. The legs were short, while the bulk was the biggest part of the large rocky body. The head was white and had similarities with one of the Flying Mantas' mines. To top it all, the new monster had six long spikes of hardened lava in the top of his head, for hair.

"Super Special Prodigious! But how did XANA manage to Materialize this? He can't open a Digital Gate." Izzy shouted.

"Prodigious? Izzy, this is serious, for crying out loud." Joe scowled.

"This thing isn't materialized…When the Scyphozoa drained the Skids energy, he must have absorbed the Teleportation Program." Aelita theorized, thoughtful.

"Oh, my gosh! Just look at his hairstyle. It's hideous." Mimi yelped, the monster's looks scared her more than his size.

"What are you gonna cal this thing?" Yumi asked Odd. The blond though for a while.

"How about Titanic?" the Italian suggested.

"Lame. How about 'The Kolossus'. With a K." Davis said.

"Kolossus it is." Odd accepted.

"If we can go Imperialdramon, maybe we can beat him." Veemon said.

"No, wait. You must go and destroy the Spire. We'll deal with Mr. Godzilla over here." Tai said.

"Just like the old days." Matt smiled.

Agumon and Gabumon took a step forward, as the other's 01 Digimon did.

"Good luck!" Ulrich told them before his party used Izzy's laptop to access the Digital World.

"Digi-port Open!" with Yolei on the lead, the younger group was absorbed by the machine.

From the left shoulder of the humongous monster, the XANA Warrior watched his enemies been transported to the Digital World, without bothering to stop them. In fact, his smirk grew wider.

'_So far, this is going as planned. The Lyoko brats and the younger Digidorks took the bait._' he then analyzed his opponents.

"A dino-lemon, a pink bird, an oversized ladybird, a weird-wolf-thing with a horn, a seal and a plant? Is this the best you've got?" Jeremie shouted, so that the digidestined several stories beneath him could ear.

"No, _this_ is the best we've got!" Agumon shouted back, with a smile.

_Agumon Warp-digivolve to…Wargreymon!_

_Gabumon Warp-digivolve to…MetalGarurumon!_

_Byomon digivolve to…Birdramon! Birdramon Super-digivolve to…Garudamon!_

_Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon Super-digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!_

_Gomamon digivolve to…Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon Super-digivolve to…Zudomon!_

_Palmon digivolve to…Togemon! Togemon Super-digivolve to…Lilimon!_

The flying Digimon took off, while the terrestrials ran to the monster's feet. The monster was still larger than any of the digital monsters. His size recalled VenoMyotismon.

"Guys, let's show him size doesn't count." Tai cheered.

"Now, my little friend" Jeremie spoke to the giant that was carrying him. "Let's XANAfie the crap out of these losers."

The Kolossus made and attempt to swat WarGreymon and Garudamon with his sword-arm, but digimon avoided the blow.

"Terra Force!"

"Winged Blade!"

"Ice Wolf Bite!"

The sun like fireball, the aura of red energy and the freezing missiles hit the Kolossus head on his face. However, the monster didn't even trembled, like he hadn't felt it at all.

"I knew it wasn't going to be that easy." Sora muttered.

"I don't get it. He should have been destroyed when they hit the symbol." Izzy said.

Up there, MegaKabuterimon bellowed, pointing to the monster's sword-arm.

"Guys, look! He has another symbol on his arm!" true, the Kolossus had another Eye of XANA in his bladed limb.

"We'll take care of the face. Horn Buster!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Terra Tornado!"

"Spark Hammer!" while the two first attacks were meant to the face, the other two had the arm as target.

"Great job, you guys!" Tai bellowed.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side, or rather, Jeremie wasn't.

"Ice!" the XANA Warrior fired two interlacedice rays, which condensed into a thick dome protecting the insignia on the golem's arm. "You didn't forget about me, did you?"

"Darn it!" Tai cursed.

_Now, with our other heroes…_

"The tower is just on that valley." Aelita informed to the friends beneath her. The Digidestined were riding on their Digimon. Cody and Armadillomon were flying with Yolei, on Aquilamon. The Lyoko Team used, as usual their vehicles.

Flying over a mountain, they finally spotted their goal. The red glowing Control Spire was right in the middle of the valley. However, it was on a small island surrounded by a sea of bubbly green soup. The green sea covered the all valley.

"Eww! And I though the Marabounta was disgusting." Yumi said in a sickened tone.

"What is that?" Nefertimon inquired.

"The analysis says it's XANA's doing. He must have created that to prevent us from reaching the tower. I think if we touch that thing, we'll be de-virtualized right away." Aelita said.

"And how can that happen? We're all flying." Ex-Veemon said. As if answering to the digimon's question, a columnof the green goop extended from the surface, at a high speed, beneath the blue dragon.

"Ex-Veemon, watch out!" Davis shouted. The Champion had to turn to the left abruptly to avoid been hit.

"That was close!"

Ulrich flew towards the tower, but five columnsrose, surrounding him by every corner. A sixth columnstroke him from beneath.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cried out, descending to catch the Samurai, but too late. Ulrich already sunk in the green sea.

"Odd, William, behind you!" Ken cried out. A columnwas now falling apart, over the two Lyoko Warrior. Both managed to barely avoid de-virtualization.

More and more columns of green liquid rose, surrounding the Spire. Now it was practically unreachable. The digimon and Lyoko Warrior were now having big time problems. Not only the green sea was blocking the way to the tower, but also didn't give them a brake. The pea soup like ocean was constantly attacking them, not allowing the digimon or Lyoko Warriors to approach the island.

_Back with the older heroes…_

"Let me try this: Flower Wreath!" Lilimon formed a giant collar of flowers. But before she could place it on the Kolossus neck, Jeremie fired another blizzard wind from his spikes, destroying the collar.

"You didn't think it was going to be _that_ easy, did you, Lily?" the blond mocked-asked.

"You know, for a second, yeah I kinda did." the flower fairy retaliated.

For several tries, the digimon tried to attack both the symbols, but the blond skier kept blocking one of the attacks, each time. And, whenever they tried to reach the XANA Warrior, the Kolossus swatted them away from his protector.

"This thing is unstoppable." Joe squealed.

"If only you could get rid of Belpois…if only the Kolossus tripped." Sora murmured.

"Wait, that's it!" Tai bellowed with a triumphant smile.

"What we're gonna make him trip?" Izzy asked, dumbfounded.

"No, but almost that…Ear me out." Tai quickly explained his idea to his friends.

"That's a crazy idea, Tai." Izzy pointed out.

"Crazy, yes but it might work." Sora countered, thoughtfully.

"OK, we'll give it a shot. Guys come over here!" Matt called out. The digimon retreat to the children and listened to the new plan.

From his spot, Jeremie watched the digimon apparent retreat. They approached their human partners, away from the Kolossus.

"It looks like Master XANA's secret plan wasn't necessary. They're given up…A shame, I was counting to see the looks of those digimon's faces when they had to deal with their own…" Jeremie interrupted his monologue. The digimon were turning back to their battle positions.

"Guess I was wrong. Wonder what sort of 'strategy' they have planned." Jeremie monologue again.

Down below, MetalGarurumon and Zudomon approached the Kolossus feet.

"Metal Blaster! Freeze Bomber!" the ice breath and the freezing missiles hit the Kolossus small legs (small compared with the rest of his body, of course). His lower limbs were imprisoned in thick ice, making impossible for the Kolossus to take another step.

Jeremie laughed, amused:

"Is that your best shot?" the stone golem used his giga strength to lift his left foot, breaking the ice that trapped that limb. For two seconds, he remained with a foot frozen and the other in the middle of the air.

"Now, Zudomon!" Joe called out.

"Hammer Boomerang!" the marine digimon tossed his iron hammer like a boomerang, hitting the Kolossus on his face. The impact didn't destroy him, but it was enough to make him loose balance. With one foot stuck and the other not in land, the monster couldn't avoid falling back, crushing the street and one already damaged building.

"About time they found a way." Jeremie muttered, with a ghost of a smile, "but they have only assured their defeat."

The XANA Warrior jumped from the Kolossus shoulder, landing a in a safe place. The golem wasn't defeat yet, only unprotected.

"Terra Force!"

"Ice Wolf Bite!"

"Winged Blade!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Spark Hammer!"

"Flower Cannon!" the attack hit both symbols, making the Kolossus to De-teleport, instead of exploding. Jeremie watched the all thing without even caring. The Digimon approached him, ready for an attack.

"You wanna fight or run away?" WarGreymon inquired menacingly. Jeremie smiled at him, he seemed neither wanting to fight nor to run away.

"Great show, I must say. But I'm afraid your victory will cost you a greater defeat." the skier said.

"What do you mean?" Zudomon roared.

"What I mean is that someone around here is too _unprotected _and that was the point of this attack. By the way…_Cheque-mate_." Jeremie was automatically De-Teleported back to the Digital World, leaving the Digimon confused, before they de-digivolved into rookies.

"Unprotected? What did he mean by that?" Tentomon wondered.

"There's no one here, besides us. The only unprotected I see are…" Gabumon stopped talking when he finally realized who the _unprotected _ones were. "Oh, no!"

A few yards away, the Digidestined cheered in victory.

"Great job, you guys!" Matt called out for their digimon. Their partners were running towards them. Strangely, Gabumon and the others seemed to be running in panic, not in cheer for their success.

"Guys, I'm getting something on my lap top…Weird, XANA is changing the function of the activated Spire." Izzy told, after checking the analysis of the said Control Spire.

"And, what is he using it for, now?" Joe asked.

"He's targeting six people for XANAfication. The targets are…" Izzy quieted when XANA's insignia appeared on his screen. Six ghosts of XANA came out of the device.

"Oh, no! We're too late." Agumon yelped, stopping his run as the other rookies did. Tai and the others turned to the Digimon, staring daggers at them with the Eye of XANA flickeringwhere their pupils should be.

_Back with the Lyoko Warriors and 02 Digidestined…_

"Hey look!" Cody pointed to the tower. The columnshielding the Spire's island fell apart. Plus the green sea was no longer attacking them. In fact, the pea soup ocean began to dry out, only one or two small lakes remained. The tower was now completely accessible.

"Did XANA just give up?" TK wondered.

"Well let's not waste the opportunity." William said, preparing one of his 'Energy Disk' strikes. Unfortunately, a huge figure was virtualized in front of the tower, blocking their way.

"Not so fast." a blond skier in the shoulder of the giant shouted.

"Hey Jack Frost, back again, so soon?" Odd joked.

"Try saying that to the other digimon." Jeremie retaliated.

"What?" Kari asked.

"The attack on Earth was just a decoy to lure you here and to separatethe digimon from the old group. As we're speaking, your friend Agumon and his companions are been slaughtered by their own human partners. In the end, Master XANA will be victorious: either the digimon fight and hurt their humans to survive or let themselves get killed. It's actually quite sad, friends been forcedly turned against each other." Jeremie mock-wiped a tear from his eye. Kari was shocked.

"And you say that like it's a joke. You should be ashamed of what you're doing." TK bellowed.

"But enough with drama. I have orders to finish you off ASAP. Now my little pet." he turned to the Kolossus. "Show them what you've got."

The titanic monster slashed his sword-arm at the flying enemies. William wasn't fast enough and he was hit by the golem.

"I've got you, now! Energy Field!" Aelita attacked the face, but with no result.

"Ice!" Jeremie's icing ray shot her, de-activating her wings. The pinkette began to fall.

"Aelita!" Halsemon tried to follow her, but before he could grab her, Aleita was saved by a white glowing Manta. One of Franz Hopper's controlled Mantas.

_'Thank you, Daddy!'_ she mentally thanked her father.

"The Calvary has arrived." Ken smiled. Several other Hopper-Mantas joined the party, shooting at the Kolossus. The Digimon and other Lyoko Warriors joined them. Unfortunately, they were facing the same problem that the older Digidestined faced before: Jeremie always protected one of the symbols.

"We have to change strategy." Stingmon said.

"Guys try hold in off for a while." Davis asked the Lyoko Warriors. The digimon landed on the valley and all got to their champion forms. It was time to use what Franz Hopper had gave them.

_Ex-Veemon…Stingmon…DNA Digivolve to…Paildramon_

_Aquilamon…Gatomon…DNA Digivolve to…Silphymon_

_Angemon…Ankilomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon_

Now three Ultimates stood proudly against the massive monster. Though it didn't seem enough.

'_I hope it's enough to beat him. We have to win_.' Kari mentally whispered.

_Meanwhile, in the Real World…_

Agumon, Palmon and Gomamon run for their lives. Joe, Mimi and Tai were on their tail. Attacking their human partners was out of the question and letting themselves been killed was too. The digimon were in one of the abandoned buildings, a little damaged by the Kollosus arrival, but not falling apart. Unfortunately for them, their group had been separated in the escape.

Concentrated in running, the fleeing digimon didn't even notice the damaged floor they were stepping on. A crack opened beneath Gomamon.

"AAAHHH!" the digimon seal cried falling to the floor below.

"Gomamon!" Agumon and Palmon cried out.

"I'm OK. Go! We have no time. If they catch us, we're done for." Gomamon urged.

"But…" Palmon began.

"No time." the seal ran into the opposite direction, in the inferior level.

"Come on, let's hide in this room." Agumon opened a door, which led to an office with several cubicles. The two rookies hide in on the cubicles.

Half a minute later, they could hear the door been broken and the sound of two pairs of footsteps walking in.

"**Agumon, Palmon, don't you hide. We know you're in here.**" Tai spoke. The two digimon trembled with the sound of the XANAfied boy's voice.

'_This must be how Tai and the others felt when they refused to attack me, while I was under the Emperor's control._' the yellow dinosaur thought.

"**What's the matter, Palmon?** **Aren't you glad to see me?**" Mimi spoke aloudwith the typical XANA voice. "**Haven't you learned by now that nothing can stop me!**"

To the digimon's terror, Mimi's head appeared between them, ghosting through the wall of the cubicle. Both rookies stood away from the XANA possessed Digidestined. Mimi and Tai fired electricity from his hands, shocking both digimon.

"**Hiding from your friends can be a shocking experience, don't you two think?**" Mimi smirked, increasing the voltage and the sound of Palmon's and Agumon's pained screams.

In the top of the building, Byomon opened the door that lead to the terrace. She closed it and allowed herself to fall on her knees panting. That escapade from Sora had tired the pink bird digimon out. Byomon could only hope that the Spire was destroyed soon.

"Don't know…if I can keep up…much longer…I hope…the others…are alright." Byomon panted.

"**Such a noble spirit! Caring about the others' safety, when it's your life that's on the line.**" a voice coming from behind Byomon whispered in a deadly, fake-dramatic tone. Sora had just ghosted through the door. The digimon didn't want to fight her partner, but she couldn't run forever.

'_If I fly to another building, she won't be able to follow me. I doubt XANA can make humans fly.'_ the bird digimon thought.

"**Getting ideas, hu?**" the XANAfied girl shoot energy from her fingertips, but Byomon avoided the blow and flew to the terraceof another building. She landed clumsily due to the tiredness. Byomon looked behind and her gaze gained a horrified expression. Sora jumped over the edge of the building, landing right in front of the tired rookie. Sora left a crater in the spot where she landed.

"Oh, no!"

"**Oh, yes!**" Sora grabbed her partner by the neck, with a literally shocking grip, before tossing the poor pain-shaking digimon hardly into the ground.

Meanwhile, Gomamon was hiding in a janitor's closet. The seal could make out footsteps from a single person, in the corridor. He knew that whoever this person was, they would not take kindly to him.

"**Oh, Gomamon!**" Joe's possessed voice sounded like a death sentence to the digimon's hears. "**Where are you, Gomamon?**"

Gomamon didn't even dare to breathe when he saw Joe's shadow on the window of the closet's door.

"**You can run, but you can't hide, for I can smell your fear**." Joe ghosted through the door and graspedthe seal in a forceful grip. "**Sorry about this, Binky-boy, but it looks like one of us is going down.**"

"Super Shocker!" Joe cried out and collapsed on his back, releasing Gomamon.

"You alright, Gomamon?" Gabumon asked, Tentomon right behind him. Gomamon looked at his downed partner.

"You shouldn't have hit him that hard." the seal scowled at the insect.

"No worries. He'll be fine. Come on, hurry!" Tentomon urged when they saw Joe stirring. The three digimon moved through the corridor but their path was soon blocked by Matt and Izzy, both with murdering looks:

"Let's get back." Gabumon turned around, but for their displeasure, Joe was back on his feet, already. They were surrounded. Each XANAfied Digidestined went right to their respective partner. Gomamon gulped when he saw Joe coming towards him:

"N-Now, can we talk about this? I'm sure w-we can work this out." the digimon seal stuttered. Joe gave an obviously fake-reconsideration look.

"**Let me think about that…yeah No, we can't.**" Joe proceeded in electrifying his partner, with no mercy. Izzy had the most maniacal gaze, which made Tentomon wonder if his partner didn't had a hidden evil-genius-alter-ego.

"**Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you. Without using the letter A, C, or T.**" the red-head ordered.

"We…I'm your…p…friend." the insect begged, both confused and frightened.

"**Not a good enough reason, binky-boy. Die!**" Izzy lifted his defenseless partner by his neck, his hands sparkling with electricity.

Back in the Digital World…

Silphymon dodged another hit. The digimon were tiring out quickly and the Kolossus seemed unstoppable. Whenever they managed to attack both symbols at the same time, Jeremie blocked one of the strikes.

'_What if we lose? What will happen to Agumon, Byomon and the others?_'

The cat-eagle digimon was knocked down by the golem, its inner thoughts had distracted it. Shakkoumon and Paildramon were also down. The children ran to their partners, worriedly.

"Silphymon, you alright?" Kari and Yolei asked. The DNA Digimon nodded.

"I have been better." Shakkoumon groaned.

Aelita, Odd and Yumi kept firing at the enormous monster, but a sudden hit de-virtualized them.

"You give up, now? I know it's not the best time but the pink bird is about to bite the dust." Jeremie snarled, uninterested. "Face it, the odds are against you."

Davis turned to the barely visible blond sitting in the shoulder of the giant.

"Oh, yeah? The odds are always against us and we always managed to pull through." Davis snarled back.

"That's right. Just because you have the upper-hand, that doesn't mean you're going to win." Ken supported.

"And I thought 'The Rocket' Ichijouji was smart. What makes you think you can win?" Jeremie asked casually.

"We are the digidestined. We are a team. We always stand strong to fight the darkness." Kari countered. Jeremie quirked an eyebrow. A tenuouslight began to shine from the D-3s. The 3 Ultimates also began to glow.

"No matter what you use against us, our hope will beat you." TK spoke.

"That disease you infected me with taught me to never give up!" Cody remarked.

"This was the last time you hurt our friends!" Yolei yelped. The three glowing digimon took flight again, feeling completely rejuvenated.

"That's right, we never gave up before." Shakkoumon glowed brighter.

"So, just because your pets are shining like lamps, you think you're gonna win. Think again!" at Jeremie's command, the Kolossus began the attack.

"Kachina Bombs!" Shakkoumon called out, firing clay disks. Jeremie laughed:

"Have you learned nothing? Your pathetic attack can't arm…" Jeremie stopped his speech when a boomingsound hit hiseardrum. The Kolossus was screaming in pain! The XANA Warrior looked horrified and bewildered. The golem's right arm had been cut!

"Impossible!" he refused to accept what his eyes showed him.

"Astral Laser!" Silphymon fired at the other arm, completely shattering it.

"This is impossible! Your attacks didn't even let a scratch before. How?" Jeremie yelled, more in disbelief than panic.

"The reason why you can't understand it's the same why you'll never be a digidestined." Ken shouted.

"Our strength comes from our unity." Kari responded.

"From our friends." Davis continued.

"From our crests." Yolei spoke.

"And from our hearts!" the three digimon finished.

"Desperato Blaster!"

"Justice Beams!"

"Static Force!"

The condensed attacks hit the Kolossus on his torso. When the smoke cleared, nobody was as stunned as Jeremie. A giant hole had been opened in the monster's massive bulk. The Kolossus fell on his back, smashing Jeremie and the Control Spire.

"Return to the Past, now!" Aelita commanded.

_Back with Byomon…_

The flying rookie had been beaten up so bad that she de-digivolved into Pyocomon. The injured In-training could barely keep her eyes opened. It was amazing how such a small digimon could take so many hits.

"Sora…" the name came out in a broken whisper "please…stop."

"**OK, I'll stop.**" Sora lifted her partner with cruel amusement. "**It'll be over soon.**"

The girl summoned an energy orb on her other hand and approached it of the tiny little digital being.

"**Any last words?**"

"Please…stop." the dying digimon pleaded, before her eyelids closed of all the pain. Sora was about to exterminate the small creature when the power of all her body disappeared. She felt tired, but not exhausted. But all those feeling were replaced by shock, guilt, fear and worry when she saw the unmoving form on her hands.

"Oh, no! Pyocomon, are you alright? Please, answer! Say something, please." she pleaded, shaking her partner kindly. She didn't even notice or care for the white eerie light ball swallowing the city. "Please be alright!"

_A while later, or rather, sooner…_

"Byomon!" Sora hugged the pink bird with all her might. She was back in her room, a couple hours before the party. Her digimon was back in her rookie form and completely unharmed.

"Air." the digimon pleaded. Sora released her immediately with tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry, Byomon. For everything. Please forgive me." Sora pleaded on her knees.

"Sora, it wasn't your fault. It was XANA."

"But I didn't fight him back."

"You couldn't fight back. You would never hurt me on purpose. You're my partner." Byomon hugged her human friend, who eventually hugged the bird back with a ghost of a smile.

"No human deserves a partner like you." Sora whispered. Still in the embrace, the red-head opened her eyes, showing a boiling anger. '_XANA, you will pay for making hurt my friend!_'

In that same city, 6 other old digidestined had the same words on their minds, that afternoon.

_With our main heroes…_

The Lyoko crew and Davis group were at Yolei's. Though this time, there was no party at all. The environment wasn't exactly of grief, but there was a feeling of fear and dislike in the air. Their digimon were all asleep, exhausted from the fight.

"I can't believe XANA tricked us so easily." TK whispered.

"Don't get to surprised; back on Kadic, XANA was very creative with his attacks. He hasn't changed in that." Ulrich commented. Davis hit with his foot on the floor.

"I hate him." the others turned their gaze at him. "XANA. The bad guys we faced so far never used us against each other, like this. Tai and the others are way upset with themselves."

"No kidding, XANA forced them to hurt and almost kill their best friends." Yumi said, coldly. "Though he never did something like this with us."

"By the way, where are them? And how are Agumon and others feeling?" Odd inquired.

"They're fine. The Return to the Past cured all the injuries. My brother and the others are with their digimon, apologizing over and over." Kari informed him. TK stood up and looked at his friends determinately.

"This is just another reason for us to beat XANA. What he did can't go unpunished."

Cody looked at him; he recognized that face. It was the same face he had when he showed his hatred towards the dark forces. But this time, it wasn't a blind hatred. It was the sense of justice. '_Like my father had…_' Cody mentally whispered. He smiled and joined hands with him.

"You're right. I'm with you, TK."

"That's right! When they mess with one of us, they mess with the all group." Davis cheered, joining his hand.

"Just like we told Jeremie: our power comes for our unity." Kari.

"Hey, don't forget about us." William said, as he and the Lyoko crew joined in.

"Or us." Ken and Yolei completed. The group was complete and XANA better watch out for he had called an even more determinate team to beat him.

**And so it ends Season One. The reason why the digidestined didn't faint after the XANAfication it's because the tower was used to possess six people and not just one or two. That diluted the energy of the tower. **

**About the glowing digimon. I couldn't have them evolved, because the tower didn't allow MEGA levels. So, I decided to use the all power boosted digimon, when their humans give one of those heroic speeches. By the way, that attack has gravely damaged the Kolossus, so he won't show up for a long time. **

**Now, to the readers that I invited to the contest: this is the chapter where they will give best reviews they can. The winner will win two pictures which are actually small spoilers of the next season. I said 'small spoilers', OK?**

**One last thing. I don't want you to think the digidestined will seek revenge form XANA. They sure hate him, now, but they know hatred and revenge is not the path they're supposed to walk.**


	13. Season 2, Ep 12 Door to Summer

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 12: Door to Summer**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**A sad chapter for Davis. Hope you don't hate me for it. But, I'll make up for him. This is set shortly after **_**Natsu e no Tobira**_** and is a 'compensation' for my discontinued story '**_**Summer'**_**. If you want some more DavisxNat-chan, go to my other fict 'Summer'. The prologue has a summary of the CD Drama.**

**Davis has just returned from New York, two weeks ago. It's been one month since 'Wrecked party' and XANA has been quiet since then.**

_Friday morning at Kadic_

Aelita was walking on a large corridor. The walls were light blue and from the ceiling came a white light that illuminated the place. She arrived at a large hall, also with blue walls. She was in Sector 5.

She had a look around and saw figure on his knees trying to stand up. She approached them and noticed it was wearing a Lyoko uniform.

"Hello…are you OK?" she asked slowly. They finally got back on their feet, still not facing her. When the said person turned to face her, the elf gasped.

On their eyes, the sign of XANA was pulsing, menacingly. The human groaned, a ball of dark red fire appearing on their left hand without burning him. The figure aimed the fire ball at Aelita.

The frightened girl turned around and fled. But her escape was unableby two new comers. The first one was using William's old XANA attire, wielding the dark version of Zhweinhander, but it wasn't her Scottish friend. The other one was dressed with a XANA uniform, armed with two _Kataras._

Aelita stood where she was, frightened. There was no escaping. The three XANAfied humans attacked…

Aelita sat up on her bed covered in cold sweat and panting hardly. She hadn't screamed, like she would have normally done. It wasn't the first time she had that specific nightmare…

Slowly, she dropped herself on her bed and went back to slumber in the dark of her dorm room.

"OK, that's it. No more pickle and strawberry sandwiches with vinegar before bed for me."

_Meanwhile, thousands of miles away…_

"So…Kari…I was thinking" TK's voice trembled but did not cracked. He and Kari were at the entrance of the canteen of Odaiba's school "?" he quickly asked.

"Oh, What?"

"I asked…if you wanted…t-to…come to t-the…movies with me. And then (gulps)…dinner." the blond repeated in a stammering slower motion. His cheeks were flushed and so were Kari's.

"Oh…TK…I would love to." she responded, nervous but happy. "It's a date."

Kari blushed even more when she realized what she had said. TK had the same reaction and took him a while to recover:

"So, I'll pick you up by 5, ok?"

"Sounds good to me. See ya." then they both departed in separated ways. They didn't want to be together, for now. Not because they didn't appreciate the other's company, but because they wanted to rejoicein private.

Unbeknownst to them, two identities had been eavesdropping from a tree. Patamon and Gatomon exchanged victorious grins.

"I told you having me to convince TK to ask Kari out would do the trick." the flying hamster said.

"Yeah, but you must admit he didn't make an outstanding performance." the cat retorted.

"How would you rate his delivery?" the rookie asked the champion.

"6 out of 10. He was stammering a lot, but he got the job done."

"As much as I hate to say it, you're right. Maybe TK will outgrow that." Patamon commented, hopefully.

A third identity had been watching the all scene between the digidestined of Light and Hope. A boy with spiky air and goggles from inside the canteen. Davis left the building, walking through the courtyard, with his hands on his pockets and a crestfallen look.

'_I thought I had moved on. After what William told me…But now, the look on Kari's face when TJ asked her out…makes me sick! _Davis thoughts grew in bitterness. '_It's not fair! Ken has Yolei, TK has Kari. Even Cody has gotten himself a girlfriend.'_

The googlehead sighed. Then a pale face with sapphire blue eyes and short brown hair came into his mind.

'_If only I could have given you a partner…If only you could make you happy, Natchan.'_

_In the Digital World…_

The ocean. It is a place filled with life. Life in the sea is always far more diverse than life on dry land. It is logical, since the sea is where life in the human world began.

However, that rule didn't apply to the Digital World. In that world, life began everywhere, so the ocean had nothing special, otherwise, every place of the sea floor who be inhabited. That's why there was nobody to notice a red glowing Control Spire sprouting from the sea floor, in a dark abyss.

_Meanwhile, the Lyoko girls…_

"Again the same dream?" Yumi asked in the girls toilet. The pinkette nodded. Yumi was like a big sister for her, even after the time when she believed she wasn't human. "You really could use a Baku."

"A what?" Aelita inquired.

"It's a Japanese spirit that eats dreams and nightmares. People who go to sleep in the presence of a Baku can't dream." the raven-haired girl explained.

"Oh…well, yeah" Aelita gave a ghost of a smile. "I guess I really need one of those."

"You're worried about XANA…" Yumi said silently, because Sissi was nearby, looking at them. "you know."

Aelita hummed uncomfortably before replying:

"It doesn't matter. It's just a dream." the pinkette then changed of subject. "We need some training, in case XANA returns from his 'vacation' soon. Spread the word, training session in the Digital World, this Sunday."

"Not for Odd and William." Yumi said causally. Aelita gave her a confused quizzing look. "They got into trouble after giving that fake scoop to Tamyia and Millie about Jim and Miss Hertz been dating. They'll start today afternoon until they clean all the dust of the library."

"That won't take more than one day. They will be free Sunday." Aelita sighed.

"Wrong. It will take them about a week to dust the library. Jim only lets them use tooth brushes to do the job." Yumi retorted.

The said two boys were in that same moment dusting out a giant dictionary, with dirty tooth brushes. It was 20 minutes before the first class, but Jim insisted (aka demanded) them to start the detention today.

"Keep going boys and perhaps you won't have to clean the cafeteria, when you're done here." the physical education teacher scowled.

"THE CAFETERIA?" Odd yelped, scared with the idea of dustingyet another building of the school.

"Della-Robia, if you don't want another detention, do not yell in the library!"

The blond stuttered under his breath and kept brushing. William stood quiet, only muttering a few curses in Scottish. Time passed by and Jim began to read some of the books the pair had already brushed. Before the two Lyoko Warriors left for class, Jim laid down the book he had been reading

"You know you two, reading these books had given me a weird idea about reality." Odd and William turned to Jim, eyeing him both confused. "How do we know this is all real? What if the Universe which we live in and our own existence is not real? What if we're all products of someone's creativity? Like someone writing a story? What if there is a all-powerful super-been that can change the very nature of this Universe, like someone writing a fanfiction?"

But Odd and William had already left, leaving Jim talking alone.

_Odaiba, Sunday morning, two days after the date…_

_Dream:_

_Rattles, rattles, rattles…That was all Davis could hear. The sound of hundreds of rattles was calming, and yet familiar. The same sound he heard whenever the distant voice of Natchan spoke to him. The Digidestined began to hear a shy, quiet, faint, female voice:_

_"Come to me"_

_"Who are you? Where are you?"_

_"Someone who has always been here…right in your heart." she whispered, giggling._

_"Natchan…Natchan!" Davis called out. He ran, following the sound of the voice. The noise of rattles became louder by the minute. Before Davis knew, he was back at the freezing and snowing New York he had been 2 weeks ago._

_"Natchan…where are you?"_

_"Come, Davis." she answered. Soon, Davis ended up on a road with a girl standing in the middle of it._

_"Na…Natchan…" the Googlehead murmured, with voice cracking._

_"Davis." the girl said, smiling brightly. Davis took a step towards her and began increasing his pace, running. They hugged each other, like there was no tomorrow._

_"Davis!"_

_"Natchan!" they stood like that for one minute. When the pair finally pulled away, both had teary eyes._

_"I'm sorry, Natchan…Please, forgive me." he begged, placing his head on her shoulder._

_"Why?"_

_"I've failed you, more than once…I couldn't save you from the loneliness and I couldn't find you a partner." he responded._

_"Davis…" she commenced, but Davis continued._

_"After you were destroyed, I thought you were gone forever. Then, Mimi saw your Digi-Egg. I was sad because I would never see you again, but if I could find you a partner…I would be happy for you. But, then, your Digi-Egg was destroyed. I thought you were gone forever."_

_"And, you were sad because you believed I would never be happy?" she asked, quizzing._

_"Yeah…because you deserve to be happy. Everybody deserves to be happy, like I deserve to be happy…with…you." Davis pronounced the two last words silently, but not enough for Natchan not hearing them. At first, her eyes widened but then she smiled warmly and looked straight into Davis eyes._

_"How long have you been wanting to say that?"_

_End of Dream_

Back on reality, Davis eyes snapped open:

"Natchan…Wha…Oh, it was all a dream. OK, no more pizza with peanut butter and jelly before bed…Oh, wait I didn't had dinner." Davis muttered.

'_Get a hold of yourself, Davis…She's gone and you know that. That was only a dream_' the Digidestined of Courage and Friendship mentally growled. Though, deep down, he wished he could believe in that dream. '_Although, I wish it had been real.'_

He looked at his left, where DemiVeemon was sleeping:

"Hey, give that back…That pizza is mine!" the small digimon mumbled, rolling on Davis' bed. The human smiled:

"DemiVeemon, I swear, the only thing you think about is food" Davis said, with a faint smile. The Googlehead looked outside the window. The sun was rising and it was Saturday.

"Well, I'm sure a little walk won't hurt." But, as the boy moved he felt something on his hand. He looked at his palm and saw nothing less than a golden rattle, with a crack on it.

"What on Earth…? Do I need glasses or just lost it? A rattle."

Davis shook the object and the sound was immediately recognized.

'_That sound…it's the same that I always heard with Natchan's voice…First, the dream and now this. What does this mean? What are you trying to tell me?'_ he mentally asked. Then, he just shook his head; Davis refused to accept the hope of Natchan been alive, only to find out that hope was in vain. The Googlehead got dressed and exited the apartment. He took the rattle with him, on his pocket.

The streets were practically deserted; save for some people whose work began really early. The still cold air of the fresh morning made him relax. Davis kept walking, not knowing where he was going. His thoughts were focused on the golden rattle.

"Why can't life just let me move on?" he muttered out loud and shook the rattle, in exasperation.

"_Don't move on. Stay." _suggested a girl voice, giggling.

"What? Who spoke? Who's there?" asked Davis, startled. He examined his surroundings. Nobody. Davis carried on, trying to forget the voice. It couldn't be _her_. It just COULDN'T. Davis shook the rattle, again, frustrated:

"_Come" _the same voice continued.

"WHO'S THERE?" the boy yelled, half praying the voice belonged to _her, _half wanting that the voice disappeared.

"_Follow my voice, please."_

Davis didn't hear anything else after that. But, then, it was like the sound of the breeze blowing, the sound of his footsteps…every sound, in fact, just disappeared. Like he had gone completely deaf. However, only one sound continued. A melody. A beautiful melody and a voice singing:

**(A.N.: This song is called **_**Only Lonely**_**. It's part of the Digimon CD Drama 'Door to Summer' and it's sang by Natchan.)**

_They don't reach, not my heart or my voice_

_I'm freezing all alone_

_A lonely world of ice_

_Merry-go-round_

The digidestined ran to the origin of the song. Without realizing, he entered the city's park.

_I had a dream, a very warm dream_

_Of a kind person with a smile_

_He reach out his hand and my misery _

_disappeared_

Davis kept heading to the center of the park. His racing mind knew who he was going to meet, however.

_'It can't be her…I promised myself I wouldn't have false hopes_'

He arrived at the center of the park. His eyes went wide with the sight before him.

_I hate everyone_

_Why is it just me?_

_Answer me, wrap your harms around me_

_My tears are flowing more and more_

_Call my name, hold on to me_

_And warm my cold hands_

In the center of the clearing, a short-haired, pale, brunette girl was singing. Her eyes were closed, but that only made her more beautiful. She finished the song and opened her sapphire blue eyes and glared at the newcomer.

Davis took a step forward, still not believing what his eyes were telling him. Tears were threatening to wet his face. He finally regained the ability to talk:

"Na…Natchan?" the girl just nodded and smiled. She threw her arms around him and he did the same with her.

"Davis." she said.

"You're back. You're alive!" Davis yelped with joy. He looked deeply into her eyes.

"And it's thanks to you, Davis." she replied. Davis was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"You were the only one who heard my voice, because we both felt lonely and abandoned. You were the first giving me sympathy. After my Digiegg shattered, there was only one place I could still exist: your soul. And…" Natchan smile grew wider. "what you admitted/realized last night was everything needed to be done to give me a new life."

Davis cheeks became faintly pink. Natchan continued, now in a much sadder tone:

"Davis, why didn't you want to believe it was me?"

"I…I was scared. I didn't want to see you again, if I were to lose you, _again_. And, I was afraid that it was just my imagination, too."

Hearing this, Natchan seemed relieved, but a new dark glare came

"You know, when you break into a run to save DemiVeemon, I thought even you had abandoned me."

"No, listen Natchan." Davis spoke very seriously. "DemiVeemon is my partner. But, you're my friend, as well. I'll never abandon you…"

"You swear?" she asked, like his next words would decide her fate.

"Yes, I swear!" Natchan face lighted up as soon he said that.

_Now, with Ulrich…_

Ulrich was slashing both his katanas, blocking the Creepers' lasers. The Samurai was the only Lyoko Warrior around there. He, Yumi and Aelita were taking a training session on Lyoko. So far he had managed to destroy fifteen Crabs, eighteen Tarantulas, nine Megatanks and two Lobscions. That training was a great chance to improve his new moves.

"SuperSprint!" Ulrich jumped high above the three firing monsters, landing right behind their backs. Before XANA's creatures could turn around, he slashed on their backs, destroying them.

"Alright! Now, some more Creepers." Ulrich's wish came true, for he clearly heard a Creeper's howl. After the monster's sound, the samurai made out a high pitch cry. Running like the wind, the German arrived at a vending machine. A Creeper seemed to be cornering a tiny little digimon around the machine.

"Impact!" Ulrich stabbed the monster, making it explode. The cowering small figure looked at his savior, a glare of near worship.

"You OK?" the human asked the digimon. It was a small a yellow furry head, with obvious traces of a cat, such a tail, pointy ears and big eyes.

"You're the samurai! You saved me again!" it squealed, jumping to Ulrich's arms.

"Who?" the boy inquired.

"I used to be Yukimibotamon, remember?" he asked, thrilled.

The name sounded familiar to Ulrich, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then, it hit him!

"You were the Yukimibotamon from when XANA attacked that city **(Episode 7 Kind to the unkind)**!But you look different now; did you…" the samurai dag into his memories of when he met Davis and the others, trying to recall the word "…digivolved?"

"Yes, I'm Nyaromon, now!"

"What were you doing here? I thought the Dan city was far from here?" Ulrich asked.

"The monsters destroyed the city, so I had to move. I live in a village around here. Some Gazimon said a human samurai was fighting some monsters. So I sneaked out to see if it was my hero, again." the In-training said proudly. Ulrich scowled, however.

"Well, you shouldn't have. You could have gotten yourself killed. And next time I may not be around to save you."

"Oh…sorry." the digimon looked down, ashamed.

"Just don't do it again, OK?" Ulrich said in a calmer tone. Nyaromon nodded. "I better take you back to your village."

_Later…_

"It was great. TK was such a gentleman. During the all…err" Kari at the idea of saying the word 'date'. "…_evening_, asking me if I was having fun, if…"

Kari and Yolei were at the park, waiting for the others. Ken had a message to deliver from Izzy, which was too important to be talked by D-terminal.

"Ok, enough. I got the picture, Kari. Your date was the best." Yolei wasn't exactly a quiet girl, but for once, she preferred silence, until the others arrived. Gatomon muttered:

"You should have listened to her, yesterday night. She kept babbling about her date with TK." Though, deep down the feline digimon was smiling. That was the first step to Kari's and TK's relationship. Maybe when they finally make it official, Davis would stop with his gloating to impress Kari. Though, he had stopped trying to impress Kari, some time before.

"Hello there!" a voice greeted. Ken, TK and Cody had arrived along with their digimon.

"Guess we only have to wait for Davis, now." Cody noted.

"No need to." a new voice spoke up. Davis showed up behind a tree, with an uneasyDemi-Veemon on his head. A brunette girl was right behind him and she gave a nervous glare at the group. That didn't go unnoticed to the other Digidestined.

"Guys, this is Natchan, the girl Mimi, Willis and I found in New York." Davis made the introduction. The digimon were a little wary. Ken, been polite, smiled warmly:

"Hello, nice to meet you, Natchan." the girl didn't reply. Ken didn't take it too personal, however.

"Hum, Davis, could I speak with you…in private." TK asked. Davis frowned but nodded.

"Kay. Demi-Veemon, stay here with Natchan." Davis picked up Demi-Veemon and put him downin the ground. The Digimon looked nervous at the girl.

"But, Davis…" however, the two boys had already gone to a fountain, where there was nobody around.

"Davis, Mimi told us about what happened in New York. We know what Natchan is." TK said bluntly, frowning. Davis gave him a hard look, but shrugged.

"OK then. So?"

"So? She's a digimon who could have killed you, Mimi and Willis, Davis! She might go crazy again and kill us all, in a blink." the blond said, angrily. Davis clenched his fists.

"Now listen, TJ! It wasn't her fault that those stupid fireflies got to her. She was and still is my friend and if you ever hurt her, you're a dead man. Got it?"

TK was completely unfazed by those words. With an emotionless glare, he simply nodded. Davis found that good enough and returned to the group. Patamon finally spoke, having listened to the two boys, without interfering:

"Don't worry. Davis does something stupid, once in a while. But he never did anything that could have got us killed."

"I hope you're right." TK sighed. "I think the idea of reencounter his 'girlfriend' has blinding him of the danger."

Patamon hummed before changing the topic.

"You know, if he hooks up with this Natchan, maybe he'll leave you and Kari alone."

Back with the group, Davis approached Natchan, who looked at the blond boy. Demi-Veemon was now with Yolei, eyeing Natchan with distrust and slight fear.

"I know you don't like me. You think I'm here to hurt you. Because I'm not human." she said, coldly. TK blinked, obviously not expecting the girl to say that. Davis was also chocked, while the other digidestined were either nervous or confused by the girl's words.

"You don't need to deny it. It's written on your face that you think I might go crazy again and kill you all in a blink." tears began to wet her eyes. Natchan turned around and broke into a run. Davis gave TK a furtive look, before running after her.

"Natchan, wait!" he urged after the girl. Kari attempted to go after the pair, but Ken stopped her.

"No, Kari. Davis is the only one Natchan trusts. Our presence will only make matters worse." he said wisely. Kari nodded, uncertainly.

"So Ken, what is Izzy's message?" Cody asked, wanting nothing more than to forget that scene.

"He said that this morning, the SuperScan showed an Activated Spire. However, the tower seems undetectable. Like something is shielding its exact location. Fortunately, whatever force is protecting it, it's getting weaker. Izzy believes that soon the tower will be located." the indigo haired answered.

"Why didn't Izzy just e-mail us?" Yolei asked. The computer pro of the Digidestined asking a friend to deliver a message, while he sent at least three e-mails, each day?

"He believes that XANA might intercept the e-mail. Ever since he was XANAfied, he became a little paranoid." Ken sighed.

_Back with the googlehead and the girl…_

"Natchan, forget about that. They're just…" Davis stopped talking, before he said something he would regret. They were in a bench of the park. Natchan was crying silently, while Davis tried to comfort her. "Look, they're not perfect and I'm sure TK is sorry for what he said."

Natchan kept weeping but finally looked up at him. She calmed down and grabbed Davis' hand, with shaking hands. A few minutes later, she asked.

"What about that Kari girl?" she said with a hint of antipathy.

"What about her?"

"You said you once liked her. Do you like her more than me?" she asked bluntly. Davis stared at the girl, stunned. The boy managed to speak, before the brunette took his silence as a 'yes'.

"No…I mean, she's my friend. But I no longer like her _in the other way_. I moved on." Natchan seemed happier with that. She finally ceased crying and looked at the sky.

"What am I, Davis? Am I really a digimon?"

"You don't know what you are?" he asked.

"No, I don't even remember the Digital World." she then made a face that showed she just had an idea. "Davis, I think that going to the Digital World will help me remember. Will you please go with me to the Digital World?"

"But Natchan, there's dangerous digimon and now there's XANA. At least, let me bring Demi-Veemon." he answered.

"No just the two of us. Please." her eyes were hypnotic like. Davis was having a mental battle, literally.

'_Do it Davis! You owe Nathcan. She likes you and you should repay her.' _Davis' heart said.

'_No, it's too dangerous. Like you said, XANA might…' _Davis' brain protested.

'_Shut up, brain._' the heart hissed.

'_That's right, shut up, brain! Remember the rules: the heart does all the thinking. You just listen and shut up.' _Davis mentally scowled.

_'Why won't you ever listen to me? And you wonder why your grades suck_.' the brain grunted.

"OK, Natchan. I'll go with you. I could never say 'no' to a face like that." he said with a smile. Natchan kissed him in the cheek and whispered:

"Davis, you gave me your friendship and now I give you my heart." the googlehead blushed heavily at this. "Do you mind if I stay here alone for a while. This place is calming."

"Oh…OK, Natchan…I'm gonna…to my house…you know the way." he said, walking away clumsily, with his hand touching his cheek. Natchan giggled at this.

On his way, Davis licked his lips, feeling some lack of taste.

"_Some peanuts would be great now."_ absently**, **Davis put his hands on his pockets. On his left one, he felt something made of paper. It was a 1000 yen bill.

"Oh, I wanted some peanuts, not money." he growled.

'_Wait, with money you can obtain lots of peanuts.' _Davis' brain stopped him.

'_For real? Tell me more.' _the boy pleaded.

'_Ah! So now you want to listen what I have to say. Screw you, you hypocrite!_' the brain revolted**.**

_A while later…_

"Oh, Davis!" Kari called out. She was holding Demi-Veemon. "Davis, where are you? He must have gone home."

"And he forgot about me." Demi-Veemon said with sad tone. A sound wood cracking caught her attention. Before Kari could react, one of the trees began to fall. And it was right above her! Unable to move, the girl and the blue digimon were going to be crushed.

"KARI!" a voice shrieked behind them. Kari was pushed away from the danger of imminent death. The girl rolled in the ground before standing back up and looking behind her.

"Wow, now that was fun…and painful." Demi-Veemon groaned.

"Gatomon!" Kari urged. It had been her partner who saved them.

"I followed you, in case you get into trouble. I was right." she hissed, looking at her surroundings, searching for the responsible. The feline hissed again when she saw a movement on the bushes. She could have sworn she had seen a brown blur.

_At Davis'…_

"We'll have to use my sister's computer. I don't have my own." said Davis, opening Jun's bedroom door. Natchan was examining the house, curiously. "It'll be a piece of cake, since she's not home. She's probably chasing Joe's brother or some other guy, now."

"Is that what human girls do all the time?" the brunette inquired.

"Yeah…well, not every girl." the googlehead started the computer and held in D-3. "Hold on tight!"

Natchan took his words really close to the letter; she wrapped her arms around his chest, behind his back, in a tight embrace. Davis stuttered, but managed to pronounce the words:

"Digi-port, open!" the two identities were sucked into the computer. Davis and Natchan appeared in the Digital World. They were in a meadow. The grass reached their knees and flowers of all types and colors gave a nice colored touch to the scenario. A flockof Hawkmon was flying around. Natchan gave a look around, but remained emotionless.

"A problem, Natchan?" Davis asked.

"I can't remember anything, Davis." she whispered. That moment didn't last long for the pair heard a howling sound. Davis turned around and spotted two Creepers heading towards them.

"Davis, what are those?" the girl asked, terrified.

"Creepy crawlies!" Davis grabbed Natchan's hand and the two of them flee from the laser shooting creatures.

_Back with the other Digidestined…_

"Are you sure it was her?" Ken asked.

"I _think _it was that 'girl'. I saw something with brown hair in the bushes." Gatomon explained.

The heroes were still in the park, now arguing about what had just happened to Kari, when she was going to deliver Demi-Veemon to his partner.

"I knew that girl was not to be trusted!" TK yelped. Kari's D-Terminal beeped. Kari opened and Izzy's face appeared in a video chat window:

"_Guys, I have good news and bad news."_

"What are the good news?" Hawkmon asked.

"_The hidden Spire has been found. Aelita managed to find it faster by meditating."_

"And the bad news?" Yolei inquired.

"_It's in the bottom of the ocean. Though XANA is not guarding it, now._"

"Cody and I can take care of it." Armadillomon said, positive.

"Yeah, but you better take so back up. I'll call Davis." Ken pulled out his D-Terminal.

"_No need to, Davis is already in the Digital World. Uh-oh!"_

"What?" Yolei asked.

"_He is been hunted down by two Creepers!"_

Demi-Veemon gasped.

"We have to go and help him." Ken said.

"What about the tower?" Kari inquired.

"_Franz Hopper is trying to hack into the tower. He'll be ready to support you." _the redhead informed.

"I'll go with Cody and Armadillomon." TK decided.

"Same goes for us." Gatomon supported. Ken nodded.

"The rest of us will go and help Davis." the indigo haired said.

"_Aelita, Ulrich and Yumi are in the Digital World, not very far from Davis. I'll contact them."_

_Now with the two lovebirds…_

"We're almost there, Natchan." Davis cried out, pulling out his D-3. They were running to the TV. Natchan ran faster, passing byhim. "Hold on, only I can open the door…"

Davis looked behind to see if the Creepers were still after them. Yes, the creeps sure were, but they wouldn't reach them in time; Davis and Natchan were safe.

"We did, Na…" Davis stopped when he heard the sound of plastic and glass cracking. He looked forwardand gasped. The TV was destroyed and Natchan had a foot laying over the pieces of the device.

"Natchan, what have you done?" Davis asked with a shriek. She did the most unexpected thing: she laughed. But not graceful laugh or a happy laugh. It was a maniac laugh. What's more, Davis noticed her laugh began to sound strange, like it was _electromagnetic_-like:

"**Sorry, lover-boy, but you have been rejected. We're through.**" she said, mockingly, showing the sign on her eyes. Davis took a step back, barely believing his ears and eyes.

"Na…Natchan?" it couldn't be. Davis refused to believe Natchan was…

"**Wrong, Binky-boy. Not Natchan. I am XANA-Natchan!**" the 'girl' corrected and to prove her point, she morphed into a clone of Davis.

"No." Davis fell on his knees.

"**Oh, yeah**. **You see, Master XANA knew you were a little loveless, so he created me to lure you into this world.**" XANA-Natchan explained causally. Then, the Davis' replica made a mocking baby voice:

"_**Oh, Davis, you gave me your fwiendship and now I give you my heawt**_**.**" the specter said, with a fake crestfallen face, fluttering her/his eyelashes. She/He then erupted into laughs. –"**AH! AH! AH! Loser.**" –

Davis go up, his grief gave place to a boiling rage.

"And, why does XANA wants me here? To kill me, right?" the googlehead questioned to the evil googlehead.

"**Oh, you'll find out, soon enough. For now, these two**" the phony googlehead indicated two incoming Creepers. "**will be guarding you. Meanwhile, I'll go see your…I mean, **_**my **_**friends and tell them that **_**I **_**went to the Digital World with **_**Natchan**_** to help her recover her memories. Tah-tah!**"

With that, XANA-Natchan turned into a stream of black smoke and flew away from there at a high speed.

"Why you…" Davis made an attempt to go after his evil twin, but one of his hostages shot his laser to warn him to not move.

**(A.N.: Even when a Polymorphic Specter shape shifts, it keeps the name of the first person it transformed into. Despite XANA-Natchan transformed into Davis, she keeps her name.)**

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Ken and Yolei were riding on their Champion digimon. The bearer of Kindness was carrying Veemon with him. The worry they had for Davis' sake was making the heroes nervous. The last time, XANA made Tai and his friends to do something horrible. That made the Digidestined even more determinate to finish this new enemy. For them, the bond between a human and its digimon was sacred. What XANA did was unforgivable! But, if he dared to kill one of them, not even all the evil digimon in the Digital World would stop them from wiping out the evil multi-agent system.

A small figure down below was waving at them. It was dressed in blue and had hair colored like red wine. Davis!

"Look, there he is!" Yolei shouted. The two champions landed, while Demi-Veemon jumped from Ken's arms into Davis, who hugged the tiny been.

"Never do this again, you hear me!" the In-training scowled, though he was glad to see his partner in one piece.

"Never again, buddy." the googlehead answered. Yolei grabbed Davis' neck and began to shake him violently. The googlehead dropped Demi-Veemon in the process. Ken tried to stop her before she could slaughter Davis.

"What has possessed you to go to the Digital World all alone, you moron?"

"Yo…lei…stop!" the boy managed to say.

"Yolei, that's enough." Ken said. The girl stopped.

"Davis, before this goes any further, we believe Natchan tried to kill Kari." the bearer of Kindness spoke sternly.

"Ken, I didn't try, I wanted."

"Davis, you…" only then Ken understood what his 'friend' had just say.

"**Surprise!**" 'Davis' turned into Natchan again and punched Ken, knocking in the ground. Demi-Veemon stood back from the Specter.

"Ken!" Stingmon grunted, before attacking the Polymorphic Specter. XANA-Natchan avoided the blow by jumping a few yards back.

"Ken, are you alright?" Yolei attended to her boyfriend.

"Blast Rings!"

"Spiking Strike!" XANA-Natchan used her speed and agility to avoid the attack and fired electricity at the opponents.

"Why don't you just give up? It's two against one." the eagle digimon roared. XANA-Natchan laughed.

"**Actually, it's seven against two.**" the Specter pointed behind her, to six incoming Flying Mantas.

"Oh uh!" Yolei gulped.

_In the real world…_

"Aelita, we need help. Davis is alone in a meadow, not far from you three. There are two Creepers guarding him. I don't know why they haven't blasted him yet, but I don't want to find out." Izzy spoke to the three Lyoko Warriors.

"_No problem. Even though Odd and William can't sneak out of detention, we can handle two Creepers."_ the pinkette responded.

"Good. I'll give you the coordinates…"

"_Hu…Izzy?"_ a new voice spoke trough the intercom.

"Davis! I finally reached you!" the redhead shouted, relieved.

"_There's one weird looking monster that just showed up. It looks like a giant, floating, cyclops jellyfish."_ the googlehead elaborated.

"What? Davis, don't let that thing touch you. If the Scyphozoa…" Izzy quieted down hen a new window popped up on the screen. It had Davis' silhouette and a count up in percentage. In the left side of the window, a red Eye of XANA appeared.

"Aelita! Davis has been captured by the Scyphozoa! Hurry up!"

"_Izzy. We have good news. Strange but good."_ Cody spoke. "_Franz managed not only to access the underwater Spire's data but to program it to self-destruct, as well_"

"Really? Wait, that's it! Listen guys, Davis is in trouble. You must go and help him!" Izzy replied, urgently.

"_What is happening?_" Kari inquired.

"Natchan is actually a Polymorphic Specter. XANA created her with the tower under the sea. When she lured Davis into the Digital World, the tower was no longer necessary to keep her alive. Just like what happened with XANA-Mimi **(Ep 5 Picnic)**."

"XANA is using the Scyphozoa to possess Davis. He is 10 km south of your position. Hurry up, the process is already 39% completed."

The computer pro could see three dots, one pink, one green and one yellow moving towards the blue dot. However he knew they wouldn't reach Davis in time. Aelita and her group were very close to him. He could only hope they would reach them in time…

_With the Lyoko Warriors…_

"There they are!" Aelita pointed to the jellyfish, which was holding Davis. The boy was surround by the typical red glow and an oily black substance was been pumped into his head.

"Let him go!" Yumi prepared her Tessen Fans, while riding on the OverWing.

"Ice!" a freezing ray was shot from the sky, hitting Yumi dead on, devirtualizing the girl. Jeremie appeared, ridding on a Flying Manta. Other three Mantas were following.

"Not so fast, party-poopers." the Icestein shouted. "May I see your invitations?"

"Funny, last time you weren't invited to our party, so you decided to crash in." Ulrich countered. He rode on the OverBike to avoid the lasers of the Mantas.

"Energy Field!" Aelita fired and managed to destroy a Manta. Unfortunately, one of the Creepers hit her.

"_Careful, Aelita. Only 60 Life Points left. The Scyphozoa is 64% done._" Izzy warned.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich ran along with his clones. Together they managed to destroy both Creepers, but one of the Mantas destroyed a clone. "Fusion!"

"Wings!" Aelita flew, facing Jeremie, who was still riding on his Manta.

"Ice!" the XANA Warrior fired more and more freezing rays but the princess was too fast. Though Jeremie wasn't interested in pursuing her. His objective was keeping both Lyoko Warriors away from the Scyphozoa.

"You take care of the samurai, but don't abandon your stations!" he ordered to the other Mantas. It had been a long time since XANA's monster finally began to obey him. He turned to his mount. "Follow her!"

The Manta began pursuing the pinkette angel, who was flying away from the battle field. She was faster than the Manta, but Jeremie was smarter.

"Approach her! Shape Shifting!" Jeremie turned into Ulrich. "Super Sprint!"

Jeremie-Ulrich jumped high and managed to grab Aelita in his descend. He grasped the Lyoko Warrior by her left foot. The girl hit the fake Samurai with her other foot, over and over again.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked. Jeremie-Ulrich returned to his original form and used his deadliest power:

"Life Drainer!" Aelita immediately felt weaker and weaker. She began to lose altitude until the two of them were in the digital ground. Aelita collapsed and was de-virtualized.

"Two down, one more to go!" he smirked, before approaching Ulrich, quickly but silently. The samurai was busy fighting the other Mantas. Only two remained.

"_Ulrich, behind you!" _Izzy called out, but too late.

"Tah tah, samurai!" Jeremie slashed his spike, hitting Ulrich in the torso. The last Lyoko Warrior disappeared.

"No." the German sighed, before de-virtualization silenced him.

"Yes." Jeremie replied, victorious. This time there was nothing that would stop Master XANA from achieving victory.

"Oh, no!" Izzy said in disbelief and terror. Ken and Yolei were busy fighting XANA-Natchan and a bunch of Mantas. Kari, TK and Cody would never make there in time. The redhead grabbed his head. 96% … 97% … 98%… "This can't be. Davis is done for."

A beeping sound alerted him. Izzy looked at the screen and was overwhelmed. The Scyphozoa had stopped!

_In the digital World…_

"What the…" Jeremie couldn't believe his eyes. In one minute, the googlehead was in the Scyphozoa's grasp, about to join Master XANA's army, but then everything was ruined. Against all odds, a giant monstrous clawed digimon towered high above him and cut the Scyphozoa's tentacles, without arming the unconscious digidestined. The XANA Warrior didn't had time to fight it or even look at it before a stampede de-virtualized him and the other monsters.

'_You're safe now, Davis.'_ a female mental voice came from the creatures, accompanied by the sound of rattles. Davis' eyes opened just a little to have a tiny glimpse of what was happening.

"Nat…chan." he whispered before fainting.

With Yolei and Ken, things weren't going great. However, the monsters turned around and so did the Polymorph, like they had seen or heard something the heroes hadn't. The creatures departed and XANA-Natchan shot a hateful look at the two digidestined and digimon.

"**Next time you won't be so fortunate.**" she turned back into a smoke specter and flew into the horizon.

_Later, at Izzy's…_

"So that's what XANA plans to do, now." Aelita said, through a graphic window, on Izzy's screen. She and Izzy had been discussing what XANA wanted with Davis. The conclusion was that Davis wasn't the problem.

"So far, XANA has tried to beat us with his usual weapons. Monsters, Jeremie and his usual attacks on Earth. But those worked better against the Lyoko Warriors." the red head explained. Aelita continued.

"But those tricks don't work to great against digimon, so XANA decided to fight fire with fire. He has come to the conclusion that the only way to defeat a digidestined…"

"…is with a digidestined, right?" Ken concluded. Both computer whizzes nodded.

"So, from now own, XANA's attacks will be only to lure you guys into the Digital and possess one or all of you, if he can." Izzy finished.

"Just let him try to come close to Kari." Gatomon hissed.

"That's very brave of you, but don't forget that XANA almost got Davis, today. We were lucky that something saved you." TK said the last words to the googlehead, who so far had been quiet. Incredible, don't you think?

"Speaking of which, did you see whatever saved you from the Scyphozoa?" Cody asked. Everybody turned their gaze to Davis, waiting for an answer.

'_Don't tell them the truth. If you say you saw what you think you saw, they'll just scowl you for thinking about _her_. Let's just keep this a secret.'_ Davis' heart advised.

'_No, you must tell them the truth. They're your friends and they tried their best to save you.'_ the brain interviewed.

'_Oh, yeah? I wonder if they'll still be…' _the heart began.

'_Look, how about this? Davis tells them the truth, but not all the truth, OK?' _the brain proposed.

'_Hum…Deal._' the heart agreed.

"I saw a digimon. A big one. It attacked the jellyfish and the other monsters without hurting me." Davis said, preferring to keep some of his memories a secret.

_That night…_

Davis was on his pajamas, ready to go to sleep. Demi-Veemon was already sound asleep. The boy went to bed, feeling abnormally tired.

"Man, that encounter with the jelly really wasted me." as the googlehead laied down, he felt something touching his chest. It was cold and made of medal. Davis analyzed it. It was a silver locket with a rattle craved on it. Davis opened and a soft, calming melody came out of the object. It was Natchan's song.

Davis closed the locket, which caused the music to stop. He smiled and whispered in his mind:

'_Thanks, Natchan. See ya around."_

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**What has happened to them?" Kari yelped.**_

"_**Hello, who are you?" Aelita asked kindly to the little creature.**_

"_**If your digimon interferes, the future of your super hot digimon girlfriend from the future will be in grave danger." the robot spoke.**_


	14. Ep 13 Watch out for the hormones, Abride

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 13: Watch out for the Hormones; Abridestined**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**You know those shows in each episode only lasts about 10 minutes? Like 'Ed, Edd n Eddy', these two episodes are short, so I decided to join them in one. Today, the Lyoko Warriors won't show up. I've already made them do crazy stuff. I'm sure a lot of people will laugh about this. This is the most comic thing I've written since **_**XANA's craziest plan ever! **_**In these two part episode, XANA's own schemes shall destroy themselves. The Lyoko Warriors won't take part of the action because Kadic will be closed for holidays and I want this to be short**

**Watch out for the hormones:**

Students were leaving the prestigious Kadic Academy. All of them were taking their belongings. Holidays had begun and the children were thrilled. Parents were waiting on their cars for their children to meet them. One of them was a thin, brunette man, waiting inside a small yellow car.

"Jeremie!" he called, merrily to a boy with blond hair and glasses. Unbeknownst to the man, the boy was not his real son, but yes a replica to replace the original one, who had been possessed by a dangerous AI.

"Hey there, dad. What's up?" the Jeremie Clone complimented with an uncharacteristic grin. Micheal Belpois gave his 'son' a strange look but smiled anyway.

"You ready to go home, big guy? Your mom misses you."

Jeremie Clone entered the car and put the seat bell on.

"Well, lets not keep her waiting." he then looked at his reflection in the right hand wing mirror.

"Hello, handsome." he grinned.

"You sure have changed, son." Michael said.

"Not a chance."

_In Japan…_

It was a typical night in Odaiba's Middle School. Every room was silent in the dark night. The only sound was the one coming from an electrical out let, in each room. XANA's ghosts invaded every place of the school. Soon after, the ghosts faded, though XANA's influence over the place did not.

Next morning, in the same school, the 02 Digidestined were gathered in the courtyard, before moving to class. Ken was walking alone to meet his friends. Wormmon had already joined the other digimon, hiding where only God knew. A pair of arms grabbed him by his shoulders, suddenly. Those arms turned him around and before he could react, a crimson haired girl claimed his lips. Ken was astonished to find Yolei kissing him so passionately, but returned the kiss, glad the others were not around.

"So, what brought that on?" Ken inquired, slightly flushed. "Not that mind, of course."

"Does a girl needs a reason to kiss the guy she loves?" Yolei inquired with a seductive smile.

_Later, in class…_

**(A.N.: I know Yolei is older than Ken, but in this fict, they're in the same class.)**

Science class became a total bust when the teacher didn't show up at all. There was a rumor going on that she ran away looking for some man she had fallen in love. The all class seemed to be infected with 'lovey-dovey' disease. Girls were practically all over boys. One or two girls had actually exited the room, claiming to go look for their charming princes.

"Hey, TK!" Ken saluted, uncomfortably. Yolei was now kissing his neck, sending chills up his spine, despite he could not deny he was enjoying that. The bearer of Hope entered the room, uneasily. A certain brunette girl had her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Same problem, hum?" the blond eyed the entire class.

"The all school is in the same state? Ken inquired.

"Yeah. I don't know if the others…" TK's words were muffled by Kari who kissed him in the lips, boldly. The blond managed to pull away, his face redder than a tomato.

"Kari please stop." TK pleaded.

"But TK, I'm just showing you how much I love you." Kari replied dreamingly. She continued her activities with TK's neck.

"TK, Ken. Come here." Izzy called out of the room. The two boys exited the classroom, with two girls clinging to them. Izzy, Cody and Davis were expecting them. A small girl, they recognized as Aiko, the little girlfriend Cody got in Kendo classes. She was continuously pecking Cody in his left cheek. He seemed half-please and half-disturbed. Davis was looking around him, with a dark expression and his forehead sweating. The brave digidestined seemed scared of something, like his worst nightmare was just waiting right around the corner.

"TK, Ken this all crisis is XANA's doing. I've detected an activated Spire and its data indicates that XANA is using it to increase the flux of hormones in the girls' blood stream." Izzy told. Only Ken understood, though TK had a small idea of what that meant.

"So…XANA is making the girls unable to think straight, forcing them to act passionately towards whomever they are romantically interested in." deduced Ken.

"Yes! We have to go to the Digital World and destroy the Spire as soon as possible. If their hormone level gets to elevated, it may kill them." Izzy explained. The digidestined (and Aiko) hurried to the Computer Room. When they opened the sliding door, an unexpected figure broke into a run out of there. It was Tai.

"Hey, Tai! Where are you…" Cody began.

"Don't stop running…Don't stop running…Don't stop running…" Tai screamed, not stopping for breathing. Another running figure, this time a girl, exited the room after the escaping brunette. It was Jun, Davis' sister.

"Wait, sweetheart!" she called out.

"Why don't you go after Matt, you crazy chick?" Tai nearly screamed, terrified.

"But I love you." she replied. Their voices were less and less audible, leaving the boys stupefied.

"Shouldn't we help him?" asked Davis.

"If we destroy the Spire, we'll be helping him." Izzy started the computer. Soon enough, the door was ready. The digimon had arrived to the Computer Room by the window.

"What is with Kari?" asked Gatomon, noticing her partner's strange behavior.

"Yolei, I know you like Ken very much, but I think you're strangling his arm." Hawkmon noted.

"I just love Ken too much." Yolei answered, kissing Ken again.

"We'll explain later." TK mumbled, holding up his Digivice.

"Listen, Aiko" Cody spoke to his girlfriend. "I have to go, but I'll be back soon."

"Oh, no. You're staying here with me." the small girl countered, hugging Cody tightly.

"I'll make you a deal. If you let me go, I…I'll do whatever you want me to."

Cody knew he was taking a big chance, but it was a chance he had to take. Aiko nodded.

"Ok, but you better swear it."

"Wow, Cody. I never knew you had it in you." Davis teased. A female voice spoke, in dark yet seductive voice:

"Oh, Davis. Where are you, _Davie_? I'm not going to hurt you…little!"

"No, not her again! Digi-Port Open!" Davis shouted, teleporting him and his friends to the Digital World. A second later, a girl burst opened the door. She was about the younger Digidestined age. The girl was dressed all in leather and fish-net stockings. She carried a whip and a leash.

"Have you seen Davis? He's my bondage slave." she asked, having a look around the room, as if Davis was there.

"Hum…No, I haven't." Izzy stuttered.

_In the Digital World…_

"_The Spire is been guarded by four Megatanks and Jeremie._" Izzy spoke. The Spire was in a beach and the Digidestined were hiding behind a rock. Yolei and Kari paid no attention, only caring about been close to their princes.

"OK guys. It's hero time." Davis said.

"You bet!" Veemon replied.

_Veemon digivolve to…ExVeemon_

_Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon_

_ExVeemon…Stingmon…DNA Digivolve to…Paildramon_

The Ultimate began his attack at the guardians of the tower. The element of surprise only helped him destroying one Megatank.

"Desperato Blaster!"

"Our turn." Patamon said.

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon_

_Armadillomon digivolve to…Ankylomon_

_Angemon…Ankylomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon_

"Justice Beam!" Shakkoumon fired his laser vision, but the target Megatank closed his orb-body, blocking the attack.

"Time for us to help!" Gatomon hissed.

"I'm right beside you." Hawkmon supported.

_Hawkmon digivolve to…Hawkmon_

_Gatomon super-digivolve to…Gatomon_

"What, we can't digivolve?" Hawkmon yelped.

"Kari…why can't we…" Gatomon got the answer to her uncompleted question when she looked at Kari. The girl was wrapped around TK, not even realizing Gatomon was present.

"I knew XANA hadn't done this just for the fun of it." Hawkmon muttered.

_Back in the Computer Room…_

"Oh, man. This is not prodigious at all." Izzy sighed. Shakkoumon and Paildramon had 3 Megatanks and Jeremie to deal with. Gatomon and Hawkmon couldn't digivolve. The Lyoko Team was on holidays and only Aelita remained in the Digital World.

"I have to contact Aelita." but before he could do so, the slide door opened again. This time, a teenage pink-haired girl stood.

"Mimi? You're back again." Izzy asked rhetorically.

"I've arrived yesterday and came here to visit you, guys. But…" she eyed him, like a starving man would look at a banquet. "when I came here, I realized how much I've missed you, _Izzy-poo_."

"Izzy-poo?" the computer pro understood the facts to late. Mimi came up to him and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

"Mi…hum…puh-aese…" his words were continuously muffled. Unbeknownst to him, to new graphic windows pop up on his screen. One of them had TK's silhouette and the other had Cody's. Both windows had the Eye of XANA and showed the level of XANA's data on their minds increasing.

_Back with our heroes…_

"TK, Cody! Watch out!" Shakkoumon cried out. A Megatank was about to fire at the two boys and Kari (she doesn't let TK go, remember). Shakkoumon blocked the attack with his body. He managed to save his partners, but the blown made him de-digivolve. TK and Cody picked up their injured unconscious digimon.

"Oh no, jellyfish at twelve o'clock!" Davis called out, pointing to the Scyphozoa. The newcomer had just emerged from the sea and was right behind Cody, TK and Kari. However, the brainwasher only grabbed the boys.

"Paildramon, they need help!" Ken called the last Ultimate.

"I'm coming!" Paildramon responded.

"No, you're not!" Jeremie and the last Megatank blocked his way. The Scyphozoa was unreachable and so were Cody and TK.

"Hey, you!" Kari bellowed, giving the Scyphozoa a killing glare. "Take your tentacles of my man, fish-face."

Kari jumped to the Scyphozoa's bulbous head and punched him in the symbol, making the monster explode. That show of strength left everybody else astonished.

"Wow, man! We should use the girls' anger in battle more often." Davis commented. Ken had an idea, a crazy idea, but still an idea.

"Davis, you're a genius!" Ken exclaimed.

"I am?"

"Yolei, I'm sorry, but we're through." Ken said emotionlessly, leaving his hormoned **(A.N.: I'm not sure if this word exists.)** girlfriend outraged. Davis eyes twitched; he always believed his best friend loved Yolei. "I'm sorry, but I have a new love. And it's that control spire!"

Davis jaw fell on the floor. Yolei however was not stunned or bewildered. She was insanely angered! Roaring like a wild beast, she ran to the tower, destroying the Megatanks and Jeremie with mere punches. Yes, you read it right…a single girl managed to beat three killing monsters and a menacing XANA Warrior, using blind fury as weapon. The girl kicked the tower and demolished the structure with a single blow.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that." Davis said, his eyes twitching.

Ken went to help Yolei, while TK attended Kari. Both girls had fallen unconscious when the Spire was destroyed.

"Kari, are you OK?" the bearer of Light began to stir and her eyes opened.

"TK? Gatomon? What happened? Why are we in the Digital World?"

"Wait, you don't remember a thing?" the cat digimon asked.

"Remember what?" the girl inquired.

"…Never mind." TK mumbled with a blush. Meanwhile, Cody shouted to the sky:

"Hey Izzy, we did it!" the answer was a muffled groan.

"Izzy, are you still alive?" Davis asked.

"_Izzy is in pain now. He'll call you back."_ a voice remarkably _alike_ to Izzy's spoke.

_In the Computer Room…_

Izzy stood up uneasily. His shirt and green jacket were torn, like someone had savagely ripped them. His face and neck were covered in marks of lip gloss. His hair was a total mess.

The boy put the speaker on and whispered as calmly as possible in his condition.

"Izzy is in pain now. He'll call you back." he turned off the speaker and Mimi wrapped her arms around him.

"Now, where were we?" the girl asked, whispering softly but seductively on his ear.

"_Oh, boy!_" Izzy mumbled on his mind. Though, he was rather enjoying that.

**Abridestined (Abridged + Digidestined):**

Aelita was in the Digital World. She had spent a night in the factory to find a way to set Jeremie free. If they didn't defeated XANA soon, there would be more than one XANA Warrior to bring back.

The girl had entered the virtual world, believing it would calm her nerves. So far, releasing Jeremie was as easy as making Odd go on a diet. Aelita looked at the shiny moon of the Digital World. It was similar to the Earth moon.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a calm voice whispered. Aelita quickly readied an Energy Field, looking for the origin of the voice.

"Down here." the voice said. The girl looked down and saw a small digimon that could only reach her hips. It was like a pink cross between a bunny and a ghost. The digimon had four big hears and a big hair like on her forehead, shaped like a hook. Her face was smiley and cute. The digimon was admiring the moon, with dreamy eyes.

"Hello, who are you?" Aelita asked kindly to the little creature. Without taking her eyes from the moon, the digimon introduced herself.

"My name is Lunamon. I like watching the moon. Makes me feel at home and safe." she said dreamingly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aelita." the pinkette answered.

"Pleasure. You know, I like you. You have a gentle soul and are determined to save those you love." Lunamon answered. She then left. "I hope we meet again."

Aelita was taken aback by what the rookie said about her, but regained composure.

"Thanks, I think we'll meet again, soon. I'm staying with my dad, in this world of yours." the girl replied.

"Until then, good bye, Aelita." with that, Lunamon disappeared into the night.

'_Cute funny digimon. A little strange, but funny.'_ Aelita mentally whispered.

_In the Real World…_

'_OK, Tristan, now you can break his neck." Joey Wheeler said. Weevil's head turned around, producing a bone cracking sound. The insect duelist fell dead in the ground, after a groan of pain._

'_Yeah, I can break necks with my mind.' Tristan said._

"AH! AH! AH! Man, Little Kuriboh strikes again." Davis laughed his as off, after watching the 31st episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, by Little Kuriboh. He and Demi-Veemon were in the Computer Room, alone.

"You're watching that thing, again Davis?" Demi-Veemon asked.

"Yeah. The more I watch it, the funnier it gets." Davis responded. The door was opened and TK, Cody, Ken and Izzy came in, the three first with their digimon.

"You're watching that show, again Davis?" Ken asked rhetorically.

"Oh, come on. You've got to admit it is a classic." the googlehead remarked.

"What's that?" Upamon asked, eyeing the screen.

"It's a parody some British guy invented. An abridged version of the original show, with all sorts of jokes." TK explained randomly.

"Enough, OK. Davis, couldn't you have used another computer. We have to keep that one free in case XANA chooses this moment to grace us with his presence!" Izzy scowled. As if XANA had heard him, a window of the SuperScan popped up.

"The bad guy wakes up when we mention him. Typical." Patamon rolled his eyes. Izzy took the chair and typed on the keyboard.

"Spire is in a plateau of…Uh oh!" Izzy squealed when the screen showed the Eye of XANA. Before anyone could react, electricity sparkled from the device and hit the five humans. They cried out before collapsing on the floor, with worried sick digimon by their sides.

The door opened once again and Kari, Yolei, Poromon and Gatomon entered. Both girls gasped seeing the boys in the floor and the panicking digimon.

"What has happened to them?" Kari yelped. She went over to TK's side, shaking him. Yolei did the same with Ken and then Cody.

"Davis was watching his favorite show on the computer when XANA attacked them!" Demi-Veemon whined. The first to wake up was Izzy. The redhead stirred and got back on his feet.

"Izzy, are you OK?" Kari asked.

"No worries. My American back bone prevents me from dying electrified." the computer genius smiled. "In America."

Both girls and digimon looked at him, like he had grown a second head. TK was the second to wake up. He smiled when he noticed Kari's hand was on his chest.

"TK, you're alive!" Patamon cried out. But TK only paid attention to Kari.

"Waking up with a sweet cheeks brunette all over me." the blond smirked. Strangely, music was played when he spoke. "It's just another morning for Takeru Takaishi."

Kari blushed but couldn't avoid noticing that was something TK wouldn't normally say. Yolei looked at the blond, then to the redhead, trying to remember something.

"Weird. They are reminding me of something but I can't put my finger on it." the Digidestined of Love and Sincerity seemed thoughtful. Cody and Ken were the next to wake up. Yolei attended to her boyfriend and her childhood friend; secretly hopping they didn't go bananas like Izzy and TK.

"Are you guys alright?"

"Bloody Hell! I knew I should have should have brought a fluffed pillow, this morning." Ken cursed, speaking with a strange British accent.

"Oh uh!" Yolei muttered. Cody looked at her with a somewhat maniac smirk.

"I'm fine, Raspberry, but I would be even better with a hug." Cody's voice sounded like he was possessed. Yolei gasped while Upamon approached is partner:

"You want a hug, Cody?" the In-training asked.

"Upamon, don't! Cody just wants to stab you!" Yolei shrieked. Everybody, except the boys, looked at her with faces that clearly said 'What?'.

"I know is happening to them. They're acting like 'Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged' characters!" the crimson haired girl shouted. The others kept their 'What?' glares. "I'm serious. Izzy is acting like Bandit Keith. TK is Duke Devlin, with his 'Sexy Back' theme music whenever he talks. Cody is Melvin and Ken is Florence, the Evil Bakura."

"I'm not Florence, Devil! I hate that name and I hate my parents for having me named like that!" Ken bellowed.

"You look very glum, Florence. How about a hug?" Cody offered, standing is arms.

"You can go to hell, Melvin." Ken groaned. Davis began to stand up and Demi-Veemon approached his partner:

"Davis are you alright?"

"Take your filthy paws of me, you damn dirty ape!" the googlehead said rudely, making the blue digimon's eyes teary.

"And Davis is definitely Seto Kaiba. That's his line from the Abridged Movie." Yolei commented.

"You even know the lines of the characters?" Kari asked, which made Yolei blush embarrassedly.

"So XANA is behind this, right?" Gatomon concluded seeing the red alert of the SuperScan.

"And we can't ask for the others to come. They're on vacation. Maybe we can contact Aelita. She's in going to spend the vacation in the Digital World with Franz Hopper." Kari hoped.

"But we can't go alone. We won't stand a chance." Yolei countered.

"Interesting. My Gaydar is detecting that you are all gay." the bearer of Kindness concluded, after analyzing the dots on the screen of his Digivice. The girls eyed the boy digidestined. Cody was trying to decide who to offer a hug, next. TK was winking at the two girls, who completely ignored him. Izzy was quiet, except once in a while when he said the words 'in America'.

"We have no choice." Kari sighed. "Izzy can you still guide us to the Spire?"

"I'll guide you in the best way. The American way." the redhead answered.

"OK, just keep us posted of what is happening and if any monsters approach." Kari said, not wanting to argue with Izzy anymore.

"So, what is the mission?" asked TK, casually.

"Well, the usual. We go to the Digital World, destroy XANA's monsters and knock down the Tower." Kari answered.

"So, it's like playing Dungeon Dice Monsters, right?" the blond asked.

"Er…Yeah." Yolei answered, sweatdropping.

"In other words, it's just like Duel Monsters." concluded Cody. TK growled:

"No, it's not! It's not like playing Duel Monsters. You're all American idiots!"

"Hey, take that back!" Izzy bellowed. "Only Americans are authorized to use that word…in America!"

"You two, shut your mouth holes, before I Wamker's Cramp them shut!" Ken grunted.

"Boring!" Cody yawned. He walked to the door. "I'm out of here. Maybe there are some people on this school good enough to kill."

"Oh no, you don't. You're not going anywhere." Gatomon stood between the little boy and the door. Cody smirked and held up his Digivice. From the small antenna a red continuous laser formed. Incredibly, Cody's D-3 was a Star Trek Light Saber.

"You definitely don't know what you're **[CENSORED]** with, do you?" Cody hissed. Yolei sighed:

"Should have seen that coming. In episode 43, Melvin turned his Millennium Rod into a light saber." Kari looked at her DNA Digivolution partner, stunned.

"You really should stop watching that silly parody." Poromon commented.

"Listen, Cody…hum…Melvin. If you come with us, we…we'll all let you hug us." Yolei proposed, hesitantly. Cody thought for a while but eventually, a smile came into his lips.

"If you don't keep that promise, I'll stab your kneecaps, before shoving my Millenium Rod up your **[CENSORED]**." the brunette threatened.

"OK, so we better get going." Kari prepared her digivice.

"Why should I go?" Davis inquired, indifferently.

"But Davis…" Demi-Veemon whined.

"Because the Mega Ultra Chicken card is on the other side." Yolei said. Kari was curious about what that was, but decided not to ask. Davis smiled at that.

"Another puppy dies." Yolei mumbled.

"What?" Demi-Veemon asked.

"Whenever Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies." Yolei answered.

_Thousands of miles away, with William…_

"Come here, Stains." little Isabelle, William's cousin, said to the puppy. The cute little dog barked and ran to his master. However, Stains felt a pain in his neck and fell limb in the floor, without moving anymore.

"What the…" William walked over to the fallen animal. He touched the pet's neck and sighed. The Lyoko Warrior turned his gaze to his little cousin. "Isabelle, I'm sorry but Stains is…well, gone."

_Next stop, the Digital World…_

"There they are." Kari said in a whisper. Jeremie and 10 Tarantulas were close by the tower, in the desert. The Digidestined were hiding behind a dune. Occasionally, the monsters turned to each other and growled.

"What are they doing? It looks like they are talking." Wormmon asked, casually.

"_They must be a conspiracy against America, like in my favorite movie, _Pearl Harbor_. Those Japanese bastards should all be slaughtered."_ the redhead said with distaste. However, his words were spoken in a quiet tone, so that XANA's minions would not hear him.

"Izzy, you're Japanese, remember?" Gatomon said matter-of-factly. Big mistake!

"_WHAT? You dare to compare me with those Asian cheaters? That does it!_" Izzy's voice sounded like a thunder, coming from the sky. "_Hey Jeremie, the Digidestined are hiding behind the sand dune in front of you!"_

"Why you little!" Yolei outraged, but too late. Jeremie appeared right in front of them, along with four Tarantulas. The monsters prepared to fire.

"It's about time you show up." Jeremie said emotionlessly. The Tarantulas opened fire.

_Hawkmon digivolve to… Aquilamon!_

_Gatomon Super-digivolve to… Angewomon!_

"Heaven's Charm!" the Angewomon formed a shield of light, protecting the heroes from the lasers.

"Blast Rings!" the attack didn't destroy the Tarantulas or the XANA Warrior, but it was enough to make them cease their attacks and stand back.

"A little help would be great, you guys!" Yolei yelped sterically**.**

"I could do it but I'm obscenely rich." Davis spoke with little disregard over the fact that his friends needed help.

"Well, let's make the fourth wall collapse around them!" Cody laughed maniacally.

_Armadillomon digivolve to…Armadillomon_

The still rookie looked at his paws before the horror. He hadn't digivolved.

"Oh uh!" the yellow rookie muttered.

_Veemon digivolve to…Veemon_

_Wormmon digivolve to…Wormmon_

_Patamon digivolve to…Patamon_

"Houston, we have a problem." Veemon voice sounded hurriedly.

"Ken, what should we do?" Wormmon asked meekly.

"Can't you be bloody quiet? I'm trying to watch 'Lost'!" Ken answered harshly, looking at the small screen of his D-3. Cody watched the fight with a bored expression:

'_Boring. This fight needs more eminent death. I think I'll just sneak out of here and look for some victims.' _the short brunette thought, before silently making his exit from the scene.

"Just great! Now what?" Angewomon asked exasperatedly. She and Aquilamon were enough to keep the enemies at the bay. But not enough to pass by them and reach the tower. Plus, they had a bunch of moronic guys to watch over.

"Guys, make sure the boys are out of danger." Yolei cried out to the rookies.

"Cody? Where is Cody?" Armadillomon shrieked when he noticed his partner wasn't behind him.

"There!" Patamon pointed to another dune, yards behind them. Cody was all alone, with the Scyphozoa facing him!

"Oh, no!" Armadillomon ran to his partner, frightened with what the jellyfish was about to do to him. Unfortunately, XANA had other ideas. A Tarantula was virtualized before the yellow rookie, blocking his path.

"Look out!" Veemon cried out. Armadillomon could only gaze at the monster's tentacles now grabbing Cody. What he saw next left him overwhelmed.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

"Well, well. Some company." Cody said to himself, spotting the Scyphozoa floating towards him. The young digidestined had no intetions of running. That monster was probably the only victim he would have today and Cody wasn't going to waste it. The brainwashing creature began to extend his tentacles around the boy.

"Oh, so you want a hug? Finally." Cody smirked in cruel amusement before hugging his captor. The unexpected happened! The Scyphozoa unleashed an ear-piercing scream before exploding. That made everyone, even the Tarantulas, to stop fighting.

"Did Cody just kill the jellyfish _with a hug_?" Yolei inquired, her glasses askew before such impossible outcome. Angewomon was the first to recover from the shock:

"Celestial Arrow!" the arrow of light struck the Tarantula before Armadillomon, destroying it. That caused the battle to continue. Armadillomon carried on his running to Cody.

"Cody are you OK?"

"I would if you gave me a hug." the boy said with a grin. Meanwhile the other boys just kept observing the fight, without intention of interfering. Or at least, Davis was. TK was just smiling at his reflection in a mirror that he had brought with him while Ken just kept watching lost on his D-3.

"Come on, guys! We need help, here!" Kari pleaded.

"Why should we help?" Davis inquired, not interested.

"I'll give you dragon cards if you help us." Yolei fake-promised.

"Free dragon cards! Veemon, go there and help them while I stay here and pretend that I don't have a bonner." the googlehead commanded.

"But I can't digivolve while you act like that, Davis." the blue rookie retorted sadly.

"Veemon, I command you to…" Davis grunted but a distant echoing voice stopped him.

"_Wait Davis, you must not use your digimon. There's too much at stake!_" the next thing he knew, Davis was floating in out of space, without suffocating, exploding or freezing to death.

"Wow, man! I hadn't felt this creep out since Pegasus made me watch 'Spice World the movie'." Davis spoke.

"_Which was a great movie, if you ask me?"_ the same voice said.

"Just who the heck are you?" Davis asked and a Datamon appeared.

"_I am the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Future from the Past. And I'm here to stop you from doing a big mistake_."

"Aren't you supposed to be the ghost of Christmas Past from the Future?"

"_No, that guy is my cousin. Now listen: do you remember in the last episode you were dating Nat-chan, who was actually a Polymorphic Specter?_" the datamon asked.

"Yeah."

"_She is meant to be your girlfriend. If your digimon interferes, the life of your super hot digimon girlfriend from the future will be in grave danger_." the robot spoke.

"Then how can I win those dragon cards?" Davis pouted.

"_You are Seto Kaiba, right? You have money, you screw the rules…you can do anything, remember?_" the datamon said. "_Oh, and one more thing. I have another advice about your future. Davis, try to remember that your friends are here for you and not against you. XANA's next attack shall change many things in your team. Your fight against XANA is about to became much darker."_

Davis snapped out of that and went back on the real World…Digital World, sorry.

"Man, I really need to cut down on the drugs." the googlehead whispered to himself. "Now, how can I win this without using Veemon?"

"Did you say something Davis?" said digimon asked, having heard some of Davis murmur.

"Shut up, Mokuba!" Davis answered. Then, he had an idea. If it didn't work, nothing would.

"I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!" a giant white dragon with blue eyes roared above the battle field. Both sides gazed upon the beast above them. Jeremie, who had been fighting Angewomon, gazed dumbfounded and looked at Davis:

"Did you just summon a monster, just like that?" the XANA Warrior asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Only XANA summons monsters. I think what you did is going against the 'rules' of this war." Jeremie retorted.

"Screw the rules, I have googles!" said that, the Blue Eyes White Dragon attacked, destroying the blond, the monsters and the tower.

"It looks like the rules just got screwed." Davis put on Kaiba's sun glasses, before his eyes went wide and he looked at his surroundings. "Hey, what am I doing here? And since when I've got sun glasses?"

"Why am I holding a mirror?"

"Why am I watching 'Lost' in my Digivice?"

"And why am I standing here, doing nothing?" Cody asked, blinking.

The two girls looked at each other. They both settled that it was better to never tell them the truth.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**Speaking of Tai and Matt, you have no idea of how much embarrassing my brother finds Davis having inherited his crest." TK said.**_

"_**Ah! Phase one of the plan was a success. Now, on the phase two." The Polymorphic Specter mumbled.**_

"_**You can't hide forever, you know. Sometimes, you have to stand up against the bullies and fight them." Yumi voice was stern and yet kind.**_

"_**You never learn, don't you? How do you expect to beat me, if not even a Mega could harm…AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the XANA Warrior screamed, in obvious pain.**_

"_**Behold Master XANA, three of the weapons that have been used against you. From now on, these tools belong to you." Jeremie announced, victoriously.**_


	15. Ep 14 Divide and Conquer

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 14: Divide and Conquer**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Another sad chapter for Davis. This chapter marks the beginning of real trouble. Plus, we'll learn if Odd is truly a cat or not.**

Davis ran down the hallway of his school, heading to the computer room. Today, the Digidestined and Lyoko Warriors had agreed to have a training session in the Digital World, wiping out some of XANA's monsters. The other digidestined were in the room, along with their digimon and Demi-Veemon, waiting for him. That afternoon, they had spent half an hour watching for any XANA activity by the SuperScan.

"Man, I'm late again. But sure they won't mind." his hand was about to touch he handle but stopped when he heard TK's voice.

"The loser is late again. I swear, sometimes I don't even get why he was chosen to be a Digidestined." Davis frowned. 'Digidestined', 'loser', 'late'; TK couldn't be speaking about him, could he?

"He's probably caught up in soccer practice. I'm sure when he gets here, we'll have to listen to another commentaryof '100 Great goals performed by Davis Motomiya'." that was Cody.

"You know, the only thing about him that impresses me is how come his head hasn't grown with all that gloating." Kari joked, making everybody else laugh. The Gogglehead's eyes went wide; Kari was saying that? The gentle and kind Kari.

"And to think he is my DNA Digivolution partner makes me sick. How can I be friends with a Goggle obsessed so-called big shot like that chump." Impossible! Ken Ichijouji, Davis' best friend was disgusted to be his companion!

"You think you've got it rough? I'm the one who suffers the most thanks to that good-for-nothing. I have to share a room and a life with him. Since the first day I met him, I immediately regretted that I was set free. I would gladly be stuck inside a DigiEgg again, than be with him for the rest of my life." a voice said bitterly. A childish voice. Not, it couldn't be! Demi-Veemon! His own partner!

"Ulrich said he is a pain worse than Sissi. William confessed that he nearly puked when he talked to Davis, after we set Matt and Tai free from XANA." TK said. "Speaking of Tai and Matt, you have no idea of how much embarrassing my brother finds Davis having inherited his crest."

"My brother thinks the same." Kari nodded. Tai, his idol, Matt, Ulrich, William and the other Lyoko Warriors thought he was a loser? It was a nightmare come true! All those good times and bad times with his 'friends' were nothing? Davis couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and ran away from the place that made his whole world crumble.

_This episode had begun an hour ago…_

_Flashback:_

_The whole junior Digidestined team was gathered at the Computer room. The group was reunited mainly to watch the SuperScan, since Izzy couldn't do it, full time. So far, no activated Spire. The digimon were more interested in having fun, instead of sitting around, waiting for a computer program to have a Red Alert. Demi-Veemon told the other digimon a joke to which only Minomon laughed._

_"Demi-Veemon, your jokes stink worse than old sweaty socks." Gatomon protested._

_'Socks? Why does that reminds me anything?' the gogglehead mumbled in his inner thoughts. It was then it hit him._

_"Oh, no! I just remembered we have soccer practice now!" he hurriedly got his gym bag and ran out of the room._

_"Don't be too late! XANA may invite us to a party, before the practice is over." Ken said aloud. About fifty minutes, XANA opened an invitation to the said party. Five glowing red towers appeared in a window on the screen._

_"Old XANA strikes again. Five activated Control Spires. It's time for some pay back." TK readied his D-3._

_"What about Davis?" Demi-Veemon inquired._

_"He is part of the team, but the soccer practice won't be over in the next 10 minutes. We have to destroy the Spires ASAP." Kari insisted. "I'll e-mail him a message telling why…"_

_Kari was interrupted by a sudden slicing door opening. The digimon became rigid like statues and the humans were nervous. Before them, Mr. Minamoto was staring daggers._

_"You shouldn't be here. The computer room is not available for today. Out of here! And take your toys with you!" the teacher demanded._

_"But sir…" Ken had no chance against the man's booming voice._

_"Out!" he said. The Digidestined had no choice but to leave._

_"We'll find another computer." Cody whispered to his friends. The teacher saw them leaving. He then entered the room and closed the door. Pixalizing ran all over his body, stabilizing its particle made corp._

_"__**Ah! Phase one of the plan was a success. Now, on the phase two.**__" The Polymorphic Specter mumbled to himself. XANA-Minamoto summoned the electricity within his body and unleashed it on the room. The energy sparkled everywhere and soon formed a hologram of five human figures and six little digimon. The Polymorphic Specter returned to his master, by entering the cables of one of the computers._

_Outside, Davis was running on the court yard, back to the Computer Room._

"_Man, I'm late again. But sure they won't mind." his hand was about to touch he handle but stopped when he heard TK-hologram's voice:_

"_The loser is late again. I swear, sometimes I don't even get why he was chosen to be a Digidestined."_

_End of Flashback_

"Hey, Odd, have you ever landed on your feet, on Lyoko?" Yumi inquired. The Lyoko crew, minus Aelita, was in the Rec Room. William and Ulrich were in a ping pong game, while Odd was listening to his music. The blond gave her an odd look.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, on Lyoko/the Digital World you're a cat. People say that cats land on their feet. But, there were time in which you didn't land on your feet, remember?" Yumi mused. "Like that one time in which Jeremie pushed you over the edge of the Desert Sector and you landed on your groi…"

"I thought I told you to never mention that!" Odd bellowed. The other students on the room looked at him. "Sorry!"

Yumi's cell phone began beeping. It was Aelita.

"Ok, we'll be there. Come on, Odd." Yumi walked over to Ulrich and William. "XANA strikes again."

"It's hero time." Ulrich grinned.

"Don't be so happy. There are five activated Spires." Yumi murmured. Unfortunately, their path was blocked by a very annoying looking brat.

"Well, well, if it isn't the geek squad…"

"You mean Herb, Nicholas and yourself, right?" Odd countered. Sissi gave him a menacing look.

"Where are you going this time?" she asked boldly.

"None of your business." Ulrich spat. "Now step up."

"I'm chargedof the Rec Room. If you wanna leave…"

"Hey, Sissi!" William called. While the brat was preventing the Lyoko Team of exiting, William went to the fridge and was (pretending) having trouble in opening it. "I can't open the fridge. It's locked. Can you help me?"

"Dunbar, you moron!" she hissed.

"You're responsible for the Rec Room, remember." William remarked with a sly smile. Fuming, the girl went to William, only to find out the refrigerator' door wasn't locked at all. Sissi quickly turned around, but Ulrich, Odd and Yumi were already gone. She gazed furiously at William.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"Me? What makes you say that?" William asked, with a taunting grin.

At the Lab, in the factory, Aelita was sat in the Computer chair when the others arrived.

"Where's William?" she asked, having noticed the lack of the Scottish Lyoko Warrior.

"He's delaying Sissi." Ulrich answered.

"Get to the Scanners. The Digidestined will be a little late. The 5 Spires are in a desert called Fire Desert." Aelita began the Virtualization protocol. "Transfer Odd! Transfer Yumi! Transfer Ulrich! Virtualization!"

The cat, the _geisha_ and the samurai were virtualized into the desert, where fire _geysers_ exploded from pits of molten lava. It was the same place, where the 02 Digidestined faced SkullGreymon who was captured by the Digimon Emperor.

Someone was calling her by the SuperComputer. It was William.

"_Aelita, it's me, William. I'm won't be able to help. This Sissi is a real vulture. She doesn't let go of my tail_."

"Well, it must be your charm that you're always bragging about." Aelita countered, grinning. "No problem. We can take care of this. Tai, Sora, Izzy and Matt will help."

"_OK, but I have to hang up. She's coming._" William hanged up and Aelita prepared a delayed virtualization for herself.

_With our mopping googlehead…_

Davis was sat at the shadow of a tree, in the park. He didn't care if he was missing school or anything else. He had stopped crying but the sorrow inside of him wasn't gone at all. A soft song was been sang in the silent park. It was Nat-chan's song, coming from Davis' locket.

_Answer me, wrap your harms around me_

_My tears are flowing more and more_

_Call my name, hold on to me_

_And warm my cold hands_

Davis closed the locket, silencing the music. The bearer of Friendship and Courage stood there, quiet, nursing the injuries. Not physical, but yes emotional. The sound of steps alerted him. He expected to see one of the others. What he hadn't expected was to see Mr. Minamoto walking to him. But the digidestined couldn't care less about that. He wasn't planning to compliment his teacher.

"**So, what is a weakling looking human doing in a place like this?**" the teacher spoke. The sound of his voice made Davis jump.

"XANA!" the boy stand up, expecting the Specter to deliver the blow.

"**XANA-Minamoto at your service. I was hoping to find some humans to kill, around here. But I wasn't expecting to see a cry baby.**" the Polymorph said with cruel amusement. "**Were you crying? Want me to leave, so you can cry alone?**"

"Shut up! We're gonna defeat you, you hear me!" the human grunted.

"_**We**_**? What **_**we**_**? I thought your **_**companions**_** had left you. Face it, worm; they backstabbed you. You're alone, despite you and they have the same enemy. Is it worth to keep fighting on the same side, Binky-boy?**"

"Why don't you just shut up!?"

XANA-Minamoto simply frowned, but carried on:

"**Five Control Spires have been activated in the Fire Desert. Right now, the Digidestined are going to Innoe's house, where she has a computer to transport them there. Feel free to join them to help. After all, you're a digidestined and that's your job, right? Or are you just a comic-relief of their groupie?**" with that, XANA-Minamotto vanished.

_On the Fire Desert…_

"Davis is missing." Ulrich pointed out. The two teams, including some of the veteran Digidestined were in the middle of the Fire Desert. The groups were practically settled. However, one element was missing.

"Do you think XANA has gotten him?" Veemon's voice was nervous, concerned about the safety of his partner. He would never forgive himself if something happened to…

"Talking about me on my back, hu?" a voice behind them inquired. The group turned around only to find a frowning Davis, with his arms crossed.

"Davis!" Veemon ran to his partner, but the googlehead stood unfazed.

"Davis, are you alright?" Ken inquired.

"Yeah,…I just saw…Mr. Minamotto." technically, he wasn't lying; he did see the so called _teacher_.

"OK guys, listen up: Me, Davis and Ulrich can take out the Northeast Spire. We'll need fire to toast Icestein." Tai said. Ulrich nodded, while Davis stood there, appearing emotionless.

'_So now you need my help, hu? Maybe I'm not the good-for-nothing you think I am, if you need me.'_ the younger googlehead thought bitterly.

"Ok, Aelita, Sora and I can go to the South Spire. Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon are big enough to deal the Lobscions." Izzy proposed.

"Right, but don't let Mimi know that you're alone with two other girls." Tai teased. Izzy avoided the blush while the rest of the group laughed. Well, almost the all rest of the group.

"He won't be completely alone with two girls." Tentomon corrected.

"Cody, Odd and I can take care of the Spire guarded by Mantas." Yumi offered.

"While Ken and I deal with the Spire in the pit of lava, TK, Yolei and Kari can take care of the last tower." Matt said. Everybody agreed and departed. Little did they know that XANA expected them to.

"With all of us attacking each Spire, it'll be a piece of cake." Odd said.

_With Cody, Yumi and Odd…_

"OK, about the 'piece of cake' line…I take back what I said." Odd muttered, avoid the Manta's laser. "Laser Arrow!"

The arrow missed the Manta but the occupied monster could not avoid the Tessen Fan that sliced it in two.

"And that's how you take care of a Manta." Yumi grinned, on the OverWing. Digmon, however, wasn't so lucky. Despite his Armor form was more agile than his Champion form, he still wasn't agile enough to avoid most of the Mantas' blows.

"What out, Digmon!" Cody warned.

"Gold Rush!" the rocket drills were shot at the flying monsters, but been on their element, they dodged. "Oh, man. I'm a digger, not a shooter!"

"Drillmon!" Odd called out.

"My name is Digmon." the digimon corrected.

"I know. I was just messing with you." Odd joked.

"We distract them. When they're busy with us, fire your drills, again." Yumi instructed. Both Lyoko Warrior flew up on their vehicles. The fight continued until Odd and Yumi fake-flee making all the Mantas to go after them. Digmon spotted his chance.

"Let's try again. Gold Rush!" this time, the drills got the monsters on their backs. All the Mantas were destroyed, making the heroes cheer. However, one of the blowing Mantas was so close to the OverBoard that the blow unbalanced the Italian. Odd lost his balance and fell from the board.

"Odd!" Cody cried out.

"No worries. Odd is a cat. Cats always land on their…" Digmon eyes went wide when Odd landed with his face hardly in the sand. "…face?! Honestly Odd, what kind of cat are you?"

Yumi couldn't help but to laugh a bit at Odd's expression spitting the last bits of sand from his mouth and nose.

"Phew…I'm gonna have to spend the all week spitting sand."

"Rock Cracking!" Digmon's attack knocked down the Spire.

"Guys, we should go and join the others." Cody said.

_With our Googleheads and the samurai…_

"Shape Shifting!" Jeremie transformed into William, who began to fire his energy disks at MetalGreymon and Flamedramon. Ulrich was entertained with the monsters. His opponents were three Krabs. Jeremie was dealing with the Ultimate and the Armored digimon. Despite been smaller, he was fast enough to evade their attacks. A XANA/Lyoko Warrior was strong enough to fight an Ultimate. However, this specific Ultimate was covered in hard, almost indestructible metal.

"Flaming Fist!" Flamedramon's attack hit Jeremie; however the XANA Warrior did not fall down.

"That was weak. You seem to be losing your touch, smurf! Energy Disk!" Jeremie-William countered, but MetalGreymon blocked the attack, protecting the armored digimon. Usually, Flamedramon would reply to the mocking, but Jeremie was right. He was feeling weaker by the minute.

"Impact!" Ulrich bellowed, piercing one of the Krabs with his katana. He jumped back on his OverBike and blocked the remaining Krabs' lasers with his twin swords.

"Way to go, Ulrich!" Tai called out, grinning. Davis mentally snarled:

"_I'm sure if it were me, you'd not even notice._"

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon announced, his body suddenly surrounded by flames that didn't burned him. However, the fire was weaker than usual. So weak that it extinguished before the blue armored digimon could perform an attack.

"What the…"

"Ice!" Jeremie shot a wave of ice darts, making Flamedramon de-digivolve.

"What happened?" Davis asked to his partner, though he wasn't very caring.

"I don't know. I just fell weak." the rookie replied, tiredly. Davis had a pretty good hunch why Veemon was so down.

"It's up to you, MetalGreymon." Tai said. Jeremie froze the Ultimate's left foot, but he managed to break free, easily. Jeremie kept attacking at distance, while MetalGreymon wasn't agile enough to get him. There wasn't much room; if he fired his 'Giga Blaster', the explosion would also catch him and the children.

'_If only Jack Frost came any closer…'_ the armored dinosaur thought, then an idea formed on his mind. '_That's it!'_

"OK, enough. Time to demolish the Spire!" MetalGreymon prepared his attack. He knew his missiles would not reach the tower, for it was too far. "Giga…!"

"No way, lose!" the XANA Warrior ran to the big reptile. MetalGreymon smirked:

"Catch ya!" only then Jeremie realized his mistake. The Ultimate raised his foot and stampeded the blond. MetalGreymon approached the tower, then.

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon's attack hit the black tower, knocking it down.

"_Great job, you guys!"_ Izzy complimented. MetalGreymon turned back into Agumon and Ulrich dismounted his motorbike:

"Man, these guys can be a pain worse than Sissi."

The samurai's words hit Davis like an arrow. That was exactly what he thought about him, like TK had said. That made the younger googlehead to unleash the anger he could no longer hold.

"Just like me, hu?" Davis asked in a silent but threatening voice.

"What?" Ulrich inquired.

"No need to hide it. I overheard Kari and the others talking about me, on my back! You see me like a moron who is only good to laugh about, right?" he bellowed. The two digimon and two humans stared at Davis like he had grown a second head.

"Kari and the others? What did they…" Tai began.

"Drop the act! TK and Kari said you and Matt were sick of me having the DigiEggs of your Crests." Davis growled, pointing at Tai. "Don't know why I ever looked up at you! Ever since the Digimon Emperor showed up, you and your dork squad have done nothing for this world!"

"But Davis, we are your friends! I am your friend." Veemon squealed. Davis kicked him, like Ken used to do to Wormmon. His eyes were burning with hatred. The blue rookie rolled in the ground with a black eye.

"SHUT UP! You said you would rather spend an eternity in the DigiEgg of Courage instead of meeting me! Ken said he is disgusted of been my DNA Digivolution partner!" Davis then gave Ulrich a killing glare. "And you…you and your friends kept taunting me, saying I was _a pain worse than Sissi._"

"Davis, you're wrong. You've been brainwashed." Tai said.

"You know what; I wished we would never have saved Agumon from the Emperor. I wished the Lyoko crew had never come here. Even serving that rat XANA is better than be your 'friend'." he bellowed, leaving the others stunned.

"Da…Davis, you can't be serious. We…" Agumon said. Davis grunted in anger and grabbed the OverBike, ridding out of there in high speed.

"Davis wait!" Veemon pleaded.

_With Izzy, Aelita and Sora…_

"Winged Blade!" Garudamon's attack destroyed the tower, reducing it to dust.

"Three down and two more to go." Aelita said. Izzy opened his laptop. The screen showed only two red towers. However, someone showed up.

"Guys!" it was Tai, Agumon and Veemon.

"Tai, you're here. Wha…" Sora was cut short.

"Guys, something has gotten into Davis." Tai said in an urgent tone.

"What do you mean?" Tentomon questioned.

"He claimed he overheard Kari and the others speaking trash on his back." Agumon said.

"What? Kari? I don't believe that." Aelita said.

"Where is he?" Izzy asked.

"He stole Ulrich's vehicle and ran away. Ulrich is after him." Veemon said.

"Veemon…what happened to your eye?" Byomon asked, seeing Veemon's black eye.

"It…it was Davis." Veemon answered sadly. Izzy tipped on his laptop and soon found a blue dot, moving fast towards the areas where the two remaining Spires were, with a yellow dot on his tail.

"Davis is heading to the other Spires. I'll communicate with the others. Let's go." the computer pro said.

_With Cody's group…_

"But Izzy, I swear we never said those awful things." Cody replied. He was talking to Izzy, through a video chat by the D-Terminal.

"And neither did us." Odd claimed.

"_According to Tai, Davis sounded serious._" Izzy countered.

"But sometime after Davis went to the soccer training, Mr. Minamotto came in and kicked us out of the room." Cody explained.

"_Mr. Minamotto? That's impossible, he is sick. I was supposed to have a class with him to day and he wasn't present._" Izzy countered, confused. Cody looked equally puzzled.

"But he was there…unless..." Cody eyes went wide.

"A polymorphic Specter!" Yumi concluded, snapping her fingers.

"So, XANA made Davis believed that we all backstabbed him. But why?" Odd asked.

"To divide and conquer. It's not the first time he uses this strategy." the _geisha_ answered.

"_Davis is South of your position. Get to him, before XANA has a chance."_ Izzy informed, before the window was closed. The group broke into a run.

"Do you think Davis will believe us if we tell him that XANA did all of this?" Armadillomon asked. Cody shook his head.

"No…but he is our friend and we have to help him."

_Back with our samurai…_

Ulrich was fast, but he didn't know if he could keep up with Davis for more much longer. In Lyoko he had never used his power for so long and his legs were beginning to tire out. Now the two of them were in a canyon in the Fire Desert.

'_Wonder when he learned to ride the OverBike.'_ the samurai muttered in his mind.

"Just great!" Ulrich had to stop his pursue when two Tarantulas were virtualized in front of him. The two monsters appeared right after Davis passed by a tight passage.

Ulrich stopped and analyzed his blocked path. There was no way to follow Davis and avoid a fight with the monsters. He drew his twin blades.

"Come at me, bros!"

Meanwhile, Davis stop after making sure Ulrich was no longer after him. He had been so focused in ridding away that lost track of time. It was the sun set. The googlehead knew that soon or later the others would find him. But the last thing he wanted was to see any of his 'friends'. A cave nearby seemed a good hiding place, for now. Davis entered the cave and sat down in a rock, mopping.

"Friends. Who needs them?" he thought bitterly. To his dislike a tear fell from his eyelid and he couldn't avoid the flashback in his mind.

He recalled the time he met Tai and Kari. Then, the memory of his first day in the Digital World, when he met Veemon. When Ken's partner and his DNA Digivolved. When they defeated MaloMyotismon. When the Lyoko Warriors and the Digidestined met and joined forces. When the others did everything they could to save him from the Scyphozoa **(Episode 12)**.

Little did he know a single eye was watching him, under cover of darkness. The silent floating purple figure sneaked behind him and grabbed the digidestined with powerful tentacles.

_Back with Izzy's party…_

The three humans were riding on Birdramon's back. Tentomon had spent too much energy on the battle to digivolve into Champion. Tai, Agumon and Veemon were with them. A beep, followed by a red alert from the red-head boy's lap top warned him. Izzy gasped at the sight a recently very familiar window:

"Oh, no! The Scyphozoa got Davis." Izzy put on the speaker. "Ulrich! Davis was captured by the Scyphozoa, again."

"_It figures. I just took care of the Tarantulas. Where is he?_" the samurai communicated.

"Keep running until you find a fork of the road. Then turn to the left and you'll find a cave, in a dead end. Davis is there. Hurry!"

"_Roger!"_ Ulrich replied.

"Hey, look!" Tai pointed to the ground beneath them. It was Stingmon and MetalGarurumon.

"Hey, guys!" Sora called out. Birdramon flew closer to them.

"Izzy, where is Davis?" Matt inquired.

"In the Scyphozoa's clutches. XANA made him think we distrusted him. The five towers were just to separate us, so he could get away easily." Izzy said. "Ulrich is now coming for him."

"Well then, let's go!" Ken said. '_Hang on, Davis! We're coming for you.'_

Izzy nodded but another alarm of the lap top went off. Izzy looked at the screen once again and his face paled.

"What's wrong?" Veemon asked, having a sudden and inexplicable dark feeling of fear.

"XA…XANA got what he wanted."

A few kilometers away from them, Ulrich entered the cave in the hillsidof the canyon.

"Davis, you there?" the samurai called out, unsheathing his blades.

"Looking for me?" Davis' voice sounded distant, but the noise of his steps indicated he wasn't far. When the googlehead came closer into the light of day, Ulrich gasped.

Instead of the trademark blue flaming jacket and the brown short, Davis was in black. It was difficult to know if he was wearing some sort of black suit or his skin had turned completely darkness black. Ulrich betted it was the later because Davis didn't even looked human. The body was completely black like coal. The left foot had four taloned toes. They didn't have nails; it was more like the toes of that leg were sharpened. The right legs appeared to have a shoe. Though that same leg had red flames, with the symbol on the foot. The right arm ended in five long taloned fingers. That arm had a spike on the elbow. The left arm was also covered in red flames and appeared human, though the hand had a small spike on the shoulder, as well. Both his shoulder were sharpened. In the middle of the chest, a red colored symbol that seemed a cross between the Eye of XANA and the Crests of Courage and Friendship stood. Smaller black versions of the said symbol were on Davis forehead and on his human-like foot. And to top it off, the new XANA Warrior had four horns on the back of his head.

**(A.N.: I have Davis' first XANA Avatar on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

"_It's just like when it happened with Jeremie. XANA likes turning his enemies against each other." – _the samurai though bitterly, preparing his katanas. Davis grinned, scratching his face with his human hand.

"Go ahead, Jack **(1)**. Show us what you got!"

"Triplicate!" Two Ulrich clones appeared beside the original one. "Super Sprint!"

The three samurais ran around the XANA Warrior in circles, producing a strange mirage. It looked like there were more than three of them. That way Davis didn't notice that one of them (the original) was missing. The real Ulrich jumped high above Davis.

"Impact!" the samurai drew his blades down, aiming at Davis. His weapons pierced the enemy's chest dead on. Ulrich awaited Davis' imminent devirtualization, but nothing happened. The blades were still stuck on his torso and yet the dark XANA Warrior didn't vanished. Davis gave him a growing grin that perfectly said '_I'm going to kill you_'. The samurai stood away from Davis. To his surprise, the two holes the swords made in Davis body regenerated immediately.

"You better take a closer look at your weapons." Davis said, causally. Ulrich looked at his twin blades and gasped. To his horror, the blades were covered in a black slimy substance. The substance was dissolving the metal of his swords, leaving Ulrich grasping in two hilts. That was the last thing he saw, for Davis came up to him and opened the samurai's chest with his clawed hand, devirtualizing him.

"Davis!" a squealing voice called out. It was Veemon. Izzy, Tai, Sora, Matt and Ken had arrived. They all seemed chocked to see the new XANA Warrior. Ken and Veemon were more disbelieved of what their eyes were telling them.

"Davis, you have to snap out of it. It's us!" Tai pleaded. Davis made a grimaceof pain and extended his human hand towards his 'friends' with a pleading voice:

"Guys…please help me."

"Davis…what can I do to help?" Veemon ran towards his partner.

"Veemon, wait!" Aelita warned. Davis grinned and raisedhis claw-hand, planning to shatter the blue rookie.

"DIE!"

"No!" Stingmon bellowed, putting himself in the way of the aggressor and his DNA Digivolution companion. Stingmon took the full hit and de-digivolved into a shaking Wormmon.

"Wormmon, no!" Ken cried out.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Buzz Shocker!" out of mere reflex, Davis jumped back, avoiding the attack. Ken carried his injured digimon.

"Matt, remember what happened with MetalGreymon?" MetalGararumon asked, looking at his partner in the eyes. Matt recalled when Ken captured Agumon and made him Dark-Digivolve into BlackMetalGreymon. In that time, they had to attack their friend to save him. They had to do the same for Davis, now.

"I know, buddy. Do what you have to do." the blond sighed.

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon fired a freezing breeze from his mouth at Davis. The XANA Warrior made no attempt to avoid the attack. The blast of cold air however did no damage.

"Now it's my move!" Davis's eyes glowed white and each fired a white laser beam. The Mega moved away from the attack.

"_Laser vision, hu? How come he gets a cool power?" _Ulrich's voice came from the sky.

"Ulrich!" Aelita exclaimed, relieved.

"_Be careful. He melted my blades just by letting me stab him._"

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon attacked.

"Dark Field!" Davis summoned two spheres of red plasma, one on each hand, similar to Aelita's Energy Field. The sphere in the claw-hand was bigger. He hurled the projectiles at the orange bird champion, hitting her with full force. Birdramon screamed in agony and de-digivolved into a rookie.

"Biyomon!" Sora cried out, grabbing her partner.

"One more to go." the XANA Warrior hissed, with pleasure, eyeing the wolf Mega.

"Don't forget about me. Energy Field!" she tossed her own pink plasma balls. They hit Davis, but he didn't even wince.

"Weak. Let me show you a real attack. Dark Field!" Aelita dodged the attack by flying higher. Davis smirked, nonetheless.

"Aelita, watch out!" Izzy yelped. Aelita turned around to see Davis' Dark Fields turning back, chasing her. The red plasma orbs didn't let her go.

"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon fired the torpedo hit the Dark Field, disintegrating them.

"Thanks, MetalGarurumon!" Aelita appreciated.

"Don't mention it."

"Don't you think it isn't time to exchange niceties? You're in the middle of battle, remember?" Davis inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Metal Blaster!" the armored wolf Mega unleashed every missile he had, producing an enormous explosion where Davis was. Before the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Ulrich spoke, from the SuperComputer Room. His voice sounded nervous.

"_Guys. I hate to this but Davis is still standing. What's more…he didn't lose a single Life Point."_

"What?" everybody gasped in unison.

"Dorks." a voice called, from the smoking area. When it cleared, it showed Davis, completely unharmed and unscratched. "Nothing of this World, the Human World or Lyoko can harm me."

Davis fired another Dark Field, this time hitting Aelita, devirtualizing the Princess. He then went after MetalGarurumon, unleashing a fire breath of red flames against the digimon.

"Red Breath!"

"Agumon, you think you can get to WarGreymon?" Tai asked.

"No…that fight really wasted me. Sorry, Tai."

A lucky shot from Davis caught MetalGarurumon. Using the opportunity to injure the digimon further, Davis unleashed another wave of laser vision, defeating the Mega. Matt attended to the now de-digivolved Gabumon.

"Well, well. You have no one to protect you now. Who'll be the first I'll make bleed to death?" Davis questioned, rhetorically.

"Stay away from them! Soul Banish!" a deep yet calming voice bellowed. Davis dodged a purple laser which almost hit him. TK, Kari and Yolei arrived with Halsemon, MagnaAngemon and Angewomon.

"Is everybody OK?" Kari asked.

"All but Davis." Veemon whispered, on the verge of tears. TK looked at their opponent. He didn't need to ask to know what happened.

"Kari, Yolei" the younger blond turned to the girls. "we have to do this."

They both nodded, though Kari seemed a little hesitating.

"Eaggle Eye!" Halsemon attacked but his laser vision only made Davis laugh.

"Guys, it's useless. Nothing can hurt him." Matt warned.

"That tickles, Bird-brain." Halsemon ceased the attack. Davis faced them all. "When I'm through with you, I'll tear your humans apart. And I'll begin with the brunette girl."

"Don't you touch her!" Angewomon roared. "Celestial Arrow!"

Davis laughed, not even bothering to avoid the arrow of light.

"You never learn, don't you? How do you expect to beat me, if not even a Mega could harm…AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the XANA Warrior screamed, in obvious pain, when the Celestial Arrow trespassed him in the left shoulder. That reaction stunned the Digidestined, as well. The all invulnerable XANA Warrior, who easily defeated a Mega just grunted in agony because of an Ultimate's attack? Davis inspected his shoulder; the wound which should have regenerated was still there, along with a burning sensation of pain.

"That hurt him?" Sora questioned.

"_He just lost 20 Life Points. But how come, if even MetalGarurumon couldn't scratch him?_" Aelita asked, her voice echoing from the sky.

"Maybe it's because Angewomon is an Angel-type. Angel-type digimon are more effective against evil." Izzy theorized.

"MagnaAngemon, try it." TK said.

"Excalibur!" MagnaAngemon slashed his sword of holy energy at the distracted XANA Warrior. Davis joined two Dark Fields, creating a shield with them. Excalibur broke the defense, but that gave Davis enough time to stand away from the sword.

"Soul Banish!" however, the XANA Warrior could not avoid this blow.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Davis emitted another scream of agony.

"I'm sorry we have to do this to you, Davis." TK lamented.

"Not as sorry as you are about to be." Davis hissed, standing up uneasily. "Dark Field!"

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon technique shielded them from harm, frustrating Davis even more.

"Let me try one thing. Magna Antidote!" MagnaAngemon unleashed a rainbow glow from his upper wings which stroke Davis. The boy bent over and wriggled in the Digital ground, appearing to be suffocating.

"Look!" Sora pointed. All over Davis' body, his XANA Avatar began to shatter and crack in several points revealing his skin and clothes beneath. The black skin continued to shatter until it stopped and the Avatar regenerated itself.

"You'll have to do better than that." Davis spat, standing back up.

"And we will. Celestial Arrow!"

"Soul Banish!"

"Dark Field! Red Breath!" the four attacks collided, unleashing an explosion of white, purple and red. The two angels were thrown away to the humans, de-digivolving in the process.

"You guys all right?" TK said to a beaten up, Patamon.

"Yeah." the rookie and the champion moaned.

"Where's Davis?" Tai asked, expecting the murderous XANA Warrior to erupt from the dust of the blow.

"_Gone. He lost all of his Life Points with that explosion. We won…kinda."_ Aelita whispered solemnly. Though they had a way to defeat the new opponent, they had lost. Veemon fell on his knees, after gazing at the now empty space.

_In the SuperComputer Lab…_

"So Angewomon and MagnaAngemon were the only ones who could harm him. I just wonder why?" Aelita mumbled. While the Warriors were back in Paris, the Digidestined returned to the school. After Cody, Yumi and Odd joined them, the group explained who they had been fighting and why.

"_This was all part of XANA's scheme. Tricking Davis into thinking we betrayed him, activating five towers to separate us…_" she heard Cody sighing from the others side.

"I'll talk to my father and bring him up to speed. Maybe he has already figured a way to de-XANAfie people. But first, I'll create something to make everybody else believe that Davis is still on Earth." she spoke to the group. They nodded unconvinced. She took a quick gaze at DemiVeemon. The little one was looking down, not daring to gaze at anything else, but Aelita could see that his eyes were teary. "See ya."

She closed the Web chat window and looked at her friends. Yumi and Odd had spent the last twenty minutes interrogating Ulrich.

"Nothing I deed hurt him. He even destroyed my blades." the German spoke.

"Now not only we lost a friend, but gained an enemy. XANA had two victories for the price of one." Yumi sighed sadly. The lock door opened and William entered the Lab, with a cheery smile.

"Hi, guys! Sorry I'm late, that Sissi is a real pain…Hu, why the long faces?" the Scottish asked, his smile slowly dying.

_Next day, in Odaiba…_

"Let me see that, shrimp!" a boy with red-wine hair and googles demanded to a younger brunette boy. The googlehead wanted to see that short-stuff's homework. The smaller boy shook his head, terrified. The taller boy yanked the paper from the small one's hands and pushed him into the floor. The young brunette began to cry until a shrieking voice behind them yelped:

"Davis!" the googlehead turned around and spotted Yolei Innoe staring daggers at him. 'Davis', however was totally unfazed by that. Yolei took the homework from 'Davis' and gave it back to the brunette kid. The kid thanked and took off. Yolei gazed at Davis with a killing glare.

"Why did you do that?" she asked coldly.

"'Cause I felt like it." he answered indirerently. That made Yolei even madder.

"Now see here. Aelita created you to act _just like Davis would_. And though he was a hothead, he was never a bully." she hissed. "If you don't like it, we can always knock down your Spire and it's 'bye bye' for you."

"Now _you_ see here. I don't take orders and I don't care about what you think. I do whatever I want and…" he paused for effect and smirked. "If you delete me, how are you gonna explain that _Davis _went missing? You need me, remember?"

Yolei was taken aback by the Monomorphic Specter's **(2)** words. He was right. He was the only alibi they had so that Davis' folks didn't suspect a thing before they could bring Davis back to Earth. Davis Clone took the girl's silence as a victory and walked away, leaving Yolei defeated and furious. Unbeknownst to the both of them, the all conversation had been watched by three evil-doers.

_In XANA's private chamber…_

XANA, Jeremie and Davis watched the all scene between Yolei and Davis clone. Jeremie chuckled at the sight:

"It looks like the new Davis they got is a bit too troublemaker, don't you think Master?"

XANA however gave no answer. He seemed to be focused on something else.

"**Yes, I guess he is.**" the villain answered distracted.

"Is something bothering you, sir?" Davis asked.

"**Yes…I can't stop thinking why Angewomon and MagnaAngemon could harm you. I can't think of a theory.**"

"Master…I think it's obvious. They are Angel-type digimon. They work better against evil." Jeremie said.

"**No that's not the motive. It's something else, I know it is. And I intent to find out what the reason is.**" XANA muttered more to himself than to his servants. Davis and Jeremie look at each other, confused, than returning their gazes to their master.

"Well, Master XANA, about other business, it's not just a new servant you won today." Davis smiled, looking at a glass floating sphere with three objects inside. The skier also gazed at the capsule containing the objects.

"Behold Master XANA, three of the weapons that have been used against you. From now on, these tools belong to you." Jeremie announced, victoriously.

**( 1 )** – Since Davis now looks like Aku from the series _Samurai Jack_, Ulrich is Jack.

**( 2 )** – _'Mono'_ means 'only one'. On _Code Lyoko_, clones created by Jeremie are known as 'Monomorphic Specters', since they can't change shape, unlike Polymorphic Specters. They keep _only one_ appearance.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**Yes?" the pair of black eyes asked, in a meek voice.**_

"_**I'm Davis." responded the hooded figure.**_

"_**This DigiEgg is unique. It has no Crest but it holds a power incredible. A power strong enough to break any sort of possession."- the pacifist said.**_

"_**You're the maniac who drugged me!" **__**Yumi squealed.**_


	16. Ep 15 Tamer

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 15: Tamer**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Just like last episode, XANA will hit our heroes hard.**

In front of a small house, the hooded figure approached a round wooden door. The stranger was about a 13-year-old-boy average height, though it could not be human for the figure had two large structures on the top of their head, covered by the hood.

The stranger raised a clawed hand black as coal and knocked at the door. After the second knock, they scratched the wooden door, leaving five deep marks on the wood. Soon after, a slot was opened and a pair of black eyes looked through it to the outsider.

"Yes?" the pair of black eyes asked, in a meek voice.

"I'm Davis." responded the hooded figure. The hood did not cover his face. It was truly a human boy with red-wine colored hair and brown eyes. The owner of the house could not avoid looking at the structures on the boy's head, covered by the hood:

"What do you want?" the digimon asked, rudely. "If you want shelter, take a high."

"Information. And I'm prepared to pay for it." and to prove his point, Davis opened his other hand (which was red) and showed several small but beautiful sapphires. The digimon opened the door, revealing to be a Soulmon.

"Well then, why didn't you say that before my good friend?" the Soulmon said with a large smile, his greedy eyes never leaving the sapphires. "Come on in."

The human entered, though he did not take off the cloak. Davis handed the sapphires to the hat wearing ghost and asked:

"I have been told that you know some secrets. Tell me everything you know about" the XANA Warrior showed the digimon a drawing. "this."

Soulmon eyes went wide when he saw what was drawn in the paper, but managed to say:

"That…is a very well kept secret. I know where to find it and how to find it."

_Same place, next day…_

"The SuperScan indicates that Davis went to that house, yesterday." Aelita pointed to the door Davis had just knocked in the previous day. She, Yumi, Kari and Gatomon went to the Digital World, after knowing the SuperScan had just detected Davis' signal. The girls walked towards the house.

"So, how is DemiVeemon dealing with all of this?" Yumi asked casually. She was worried about the little digimon, since Davis was captured by XANA, five days ago.

"Not looking good. He has barely spoke or eaten anything, according with TK." Gatomon sighed. Eyeing the Lyoko girls' confused looks, she added. "He's now living with TK because Davis Clone kicked him out of his room."

"Davis Clone did what?" Aelita gasped.

"You heard me and that's not all. He has taken the title of 'Odaiba's Elementary School Official Bully'." Kari half-muttered half-sighed.

"I don't believe this! Our Clones weren't like that." the geisha recalled when the Lyoko Team had to creat a clone of each element. Yumi's Clone was a bit annoying with her cheery and _huggy_ attitude, but nothing more than that. "They were annoying, but not mean."

"Well, here we are." Gatomon knocked at the door and a slot opened, revealing a pair of black eyes.

"What do you want?" the digimon asked rudely.

"We just want to know if you have seen someone. He looks just like this." Kari showed him a picture of Davis. The digimon looked at the picture and snarled.

"Maybe I deed."

"Did you?" Aelita asked.

"My answer depends of how much money you have." the black-eyed digimon muttered. Gatomon hissed and grasped the door with her claws, coming face to face with the greedy digimon.

"How about a Neko Punch as payment? Will that be enough to make you spill?" the cat threatened.

"Gatomon." Kari scowled. "I'm sorry, but we have no money."

The unwelcoming digimon frowned:

"After the way your cat spoke to me I wouldn't even consider assisting you. Get lost before…"

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

He was cut off by his exploding house. The three human girls and one digimon girl were shoved back by the blow. The house was a pile of debris and the digimon around were fleeing the area. Over the debris the house was now, Davis and four Krabs stood. While Davis looked menacing most of all, the Krabs appeared confusing, though vaguely familiar. Two of them were covered by armor with flames while the other two had a black armor with marks of blue thunders. It took Kari only a minute to understand what XANA did to his monsters.

"And we were looking for Davis." Gatomon scowled.

"He looks so different…and evil." Yumi commented, seeing the newest XANA Warrior for the first time. "And he brought company with a new paintjob."

"XANA must have taken control of Davis' DigiEggs, as well. Those Krabs have been upgraded." Kari said. "Gatomon!"

_Gatomon Super-digivolve to…Angewomon_

The angel stood against the XANA Warrior, while Aelita and Yumi faced the upgraded monsters. Since Angewomon was the only of the present that could compete with Davis, she had to deal with him. However, the battle was not going to be easy for nobody knew yet what surprises the Armor-Monsters**(1)**, Yūjō-Krabsand Yūki**-**Krabs, held.

"Energy Field!" Aelita's attack was meant for one of the Yūjō**-**Krabs, but a blue lighting extinguished the pink plasma ball.

"Looks like they come with new tricks. Eyah!" Yumi's fan was countered with a wave of flames, courtesy of the Yūki**-**Krabs. Fortunately, the weapon was just deflected from its course, undamaged.

"Oh uh." the geisha said.

"Heaven's Charm!"

"Dark Field!"

The blown made contact and unleashed an explosion, covering the battle field in smoke. Angewomon looked around, searching for her enemy. Unbeknownst to the angel, two points were glowing behind her.

"Angewomon, watch out!" Kari yelped but two late. Davis' laser vision hit the angel dead on. The Ultimate was down but not out. She prepared her own counter-attack:

"Celestial…" Angewomon was cut off when electricity sparked around her. XANA had summoned one Yūjō-Tarantula behind her.

"Red Breath!" Davis attacked from behind again. However the calling of the attack alerted her. Angewomon flew higher avoiding the red flames which burned the Armor-Tarantula.

"Oh well." Davis fake-lamented the death of the monster and continued his struggle against the Digimon. Meanwhile, the Lyoko girls were having a bit of trouble. Aelita took flight and fired another Energy Field, which was proven useless, by another counter attack. Yumi was having even more trouble, for she could not fly to avoid their attacks.

"Eyah!" the geisha hurled her fans, which were deflected from its course again and didn't return to Yumi. The two Armor-Krabs readied their attacks to devirtualize the girl.

"Rapid Fire!" a voice called out from the sky. Each Armor-Krab was hit by a few missiles with smiley faces. The girls and Davis looked up and the newcomers revealed to be a tall flying creature with a big ears and green armor all over. Instead of hands, he had one missile launcher on each hand. Kari recognized the figure; it was a Rapidmon, just like Willis', though this one was green and not golden.

"There's still one, Rapidmon!" another voice called out, this time from the ground level. Yumi looked behind her and saw a thin boy slightly shorter than her. His eyes were grey but not cold and his short hair was dark blue. It took her a moment to recognize the boy as the one and only who had been XANAfied to drug her and took Aelita to Lyoko **(XANA's craziest plan ever!; chapters 11 and 12 )**

"You're the maniac who drugged me!" Yumi squealed. He didn't look at her, only paying attention to the fight between his partner, Angewomon and Davis. The XANA Warrior smiled and waved goodbye.

"See ya later." he disappeared, merging with the shadows. The battle was over. Everybody relaxed a bit, though the Lyoko girl gave suspicious looks at the boy. The two Ultimates de-digivolved. Rapidmon transformed into a Terriermon, as Kari predicted.

"Thanks for your help. I don't know if we could last much longer." Kari thanked.

"I could have beat Davis, nonetheless. But thanks, anyway." Gatomon replied.

"Someone is been modest." the Terriermon on the boy's shoulder said.

"Terriermon, mind your manners."

"Momentai." the green rabbit said back. The boy shook his head and introduced himself:

"My name is Henry Wong and this little chatty is Terriermon. And you must be Kari, right?"

The girl looked puzzled at him:

"How do you know my name?"

"I've been watching your fight against XANA. I remember when he possessed me to attack the Lyoko Warriors."

This awoke the attention of Yumi and Aelita. How could this Henry remember of that? XANAfied people have no memories of their actions while they were possessed.

"How come you remember that?" Yumi inquired.

"Let's just move to a more hidden place. We're attracting too much attention here." Henry proposed. As they left, Davis creepily creeped out from the shadows and smirked:

"The dorks took the bait."

_Later…_

"First of all, how can you remember of the time you were possessed?" Yumi asked. The group was now talking in sideskirst of the village, where nobody seemed to disturbe them.

"I began to have dreams about me taking Aelita to Lyoko." Henry shrugged. "My sensei taught me some techniques to recover memories, by allowing your spirit to relax. One month ago, I remembered everything and began to search for the word XANA. My search lead me to the Digital World, where XANA had been hiding. I've been spying both him and his fight against you."

"Wait…so instead of coming out of the shadows and help us, you just stood there watching the show. Thanks a lot. What kind of stupid digidestined are you?" Yumi muttered.

"Hey, what kind of stupid girl are you?" Terriermon muttered back

"Enough Terriermon. She's kinda right and I'm sorry. I still didn't know if you were allies. But I'm here to help, now. I know why your friend Davis went to that store yesterday." said that, everybody paid more attention to Henry's next words. "XANA heard a rumor about a mystical Digi-Egg. Its legend is so old that most digimon forgot about it."

"How can that be? We have found every crest there is." Kari retorted.

"This DigiEgg is unique. It has no Crest but it holds a power incredible. A power strong enough to break any sort of possession. The Digi-Egg of Righteousness"- Henry told. "With it, the influence XANA has over Davis and Jeremie can be destroyed, freeing them from his control."

All the girls gasped. Aelita was especially thrilled; they finally had a chance to dispossess Jeremie. Henry continued:

"The Soulmon Davis visited yesterday was probably one of the last digimon who knew the existence and whereabouts of the Digi-Egg. XANA wants the Egg destroyed before anyone finds it."

"Oh, great. What can we do to stop him?" Gatomon sighed. Henry smiled.

"About that, there's no problem. The Digi-Egg can only be retrieved by a Digidestined of noble intentions. Someone who does not intend to use its power to selfish needs. XANA sent Davis to this task, but quickly found out he did not have the requirements to possess the Digi-Egg. So XANA cannot get it and neither can Davis nor Jeremie. And fortunately for us, I know where the Egg is."

"You do? That's great!" Aelita cried out, merrily. "Yumi if we get Jeremie back, we might finally defeat XANA, all together. I'm going talk to my father."

"Well, yeah. I guess we should weaken XANA as much as possible." Yumi corroborated, eyeing Henry hesitantly.

"Especially now that his monsters have armor-digivolved." Gatomon added.

"Actually, they are now Armor-Monsters. XANA has learned to bend the Digi-Eggs of Courage and Friendship to his will, now that Davis is under his command. Though he is having trouble with the Digi-Egg of Miracles. Turns out its power is too great to control."

"Good for us." Kari sighed. She then remembered something:

"Henry, if you're a Digidestined, why haven't you retrieved the Digi-Egg, yet?"

"Because I'm not a Digidestined. I'm a Tamer, see?" he showed his Digivice. It was white and bigger than a D-3. The screen was surrounded by a green ring and there was a slot on the right side of the device.

Before anyone could stop her, Aelita took off without warning. She couldn't wait until she told her father.

"That girl had coffee for breakfast or what?" Terriermon commented.

"OK, let's go to the Real World, to meet the others." Kari proposed to Henry. Terriermon grew pale while his Tamer moved uncomfortably and uttered:

"No, thanks. I'm gonna stick around and learn more about XANA's doing. No doubt he will try to stop us from obtaining the Digi-Egg of Righteousness."

"Suit yourselves." Gatomon said, walking away with Kari and Yumi, while the Tamer and Terriermon walked in the opposite way.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Terriermon asked.

"Momentai." Henry replied, smirking.

_Back in the Computer Room…_

"So this Henry knows of a way to get Davis back, right?" Yolei inquired.

"Yes, he said the Digi-Egg of Righteousness is out of XANA reach, because only a Digidestined can get it." Kari explained.

"If that's true than why hasn't he done that already?" Patamon asked.

"He said he can't because he is not a Digidestined. He is a Tamer; he even has a different D-3." Gatomon told.

"I say we should trust him. Think about it, if he is here to help us and he's telling the truth, Davis and Jeremie will be freed from XANA's clutches." Cody said.

"Remember the last time he thought he had Mimi among us? It was a Polymorphic Specter. What makes you think this guy isn't one?" TK recalled.

"Actually, I performed a scan on him, while Kari found him. He is human." Izzy retorted. TK shrugged and finally agreed.

"OK, I agree. But that doesn't mean we don't keep an eye on him."

"TK, why are you so suspicious?" Kari asked. "Yumi is one thing, but you?"

"I'm just worried that something will go wrong. I don't know how to put it but…I have a gut feeling that…" TK was cut off by Patamon.

"You have a _gut feeling_? You're starting to sound like Davis." Patamon shook his head.

"Don't worry, TK. Everything will go fine." Kari assured.

'_I hope so.' _TK mentally nodded. Ken walked towards TK, while the others talked about the plan.

"How is DemiVeemon?" the former Emperor asked.

"No so good. He hasn't eaten or said a word to us. Poor guy." TK solemnly uttered.

_With Aelita and Hopper…_

"This Henry claims that the Digi-Egg of Righteousness can cure Jeremie and Davis." Aelita finished telling. The bubble that was her father hummed.

"I've tried everything I knew to help those two, but nothing worked. If we had Jeremie or Davis captured, I would figure out a way to de-XANAfie them, but…I guess that Digi-egg is our best chance now."

"I'm going tell the others. Bye Daddy!" she said.

"Wait, Aelita. I'm going to join Gennai's Order. They live in a castle, not very far from here. They are trying to learn whatever they can about XANA. If you ever need me, just ask you friends, the Digidestined. They know where to find Gennai." the bubble's soft tone became stern. "And, when Jeremie is set free, tell him that I must have a rather serious conversation with him."

"Don't be too harsh on him, Dad." Aelita asked. She iniciated the Materialization program by her bracelet and reapered in the Scanners, in the Real World.

_Next day…_

"Well this is the spot." Henry said. The Lyoko Warriors and Digidestined, with the exception of Yumi and William, were walking in the mountains of File Island. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar were visiting William. The geisha could not sneak out of house, this time though Aelita suspected it was most Henry's presence that she did not trust. From all the Lyoko Warriors, she had an especial reason to be a little edgy about trusting this Tamer: Yumi always considered her body to be a sanctuary. And though she knew that XANA was responsible for that stupid mistake, knew could not stop blaming Henry. The group had arrived at a plateau where a cave could be seen in the steephillside.

"So the Digi-Egg is hidden in a cave? Typical." Gatomon rolled her eyes.

"Say Henry, is Terriermon a dog or a rabbit?" Odd inquired. "I mean Terrier sounds like a dog. But come on…a dog with big hears, a horn and walks on two legs?"

The Tamer frowned and looked at his partner:

"Good question. I don't even know if Terriermon is a boy or a girl."

"Henry, that's enough OK. Only someone deaf and blind could ask that." Terriermon pouted. That caused some laughs, which were cut off by someone's shouting voice:

"Not so fast, Digidorks." Davis appeared along with three Yūjō-Lobscions, blocking their way into the cavern.

"How does Davis expect us to save him from XANA if he is always in our way?" Ulrich muttered, unsheathing his katanas. "By the way, where is Jeremie?"

"Fire!" the Yūjō-Lobscions fired the continuous lasers from their tails, surrounded by rings of electricity, while the XANA Warrior fired his laser vision. Aelita used her Creativity to raise a thick wall of stone shielding them. The enemies kept firing, trying to take down the wall. For now, the structure could take their hits, but it wouldn't last.

"Guys, we take care of them. We're not digidestined so it doesn't matter if we go or not." Ulrich said.

"But you'll need one of us to take on Davis." TK recalled.

"I'll help you." Patamon proposed.

"Once the path is clear, you make a run for it." Aelita said, her wings already elevating her.

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!_

The one Digimon and three Lyoko Warriors came out of hiding place. The four humans focused on the mutated scorpions while Angemon faced the human enemy. The Digidestined, Tamer and respective digimon observed from the sidelines, tensely.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon's strike was countered by Davis' Red Breath.

"You won't beat me that easily." the XANAfied boy hissed with despise towards the Champion.

"Yes, Davis it won't neither easy nor pleasant for me." Angemon flew towards him, quickly. "But it will be worth the effort!"

Angemon hit him with his rod, making Davis cry out in pain.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!...Hope…" he muttered the word vaguely. The XANA Warrior avoided Angemon's next blows. Until Angemon's Hand of Fate missed him for an inch.

"Time to change strategy." Davis said, running towards the angel. Angemon prepared for the impact. However, Davis true intentions were revealed soon: he jumped above the Digimon's head and fired his Laser Vision and Dark Fields at the same time. The blows eliminated Aelita, Odd and Ulrich, who had their attention turned to the Armor-Lobscions.

"No!" a voice cried out behind him. Davis turned around just in time to hold Angemon's staff, before the angel could bring his weapon down. Despite his claw-hand was burning just by holding the angel's rod, Davis gave his enemy a triumphant smirk.

"Retreat!" he ordered to the Yūjō-Lobscions. "We dealt with the Lyoko Warrior. Let the cave deal with you."

The monsters and Davis were devirtualized, leaving the battle field silent.

"They've given up?" Angemon questioned, puzzled.

"It seems so." Henry said.

"But why?" Ken inquired.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to stay here to find out. Let's go." Henry almost ran to the cave, closely followed by the others.

"Hey, wait!" Yolei said. The others went after the Tamer, entering into the dark cave. Soon, they arrived into a dead end.

"Great. Now what?" TK muttered.

"One of you must touch that wall. Only a Digidestined can open the passage." Henry instructed. Cody advanced calmly and looked at Henry by the corner of his eye before placing his hand on the wall. The rock of the dead end began to change shape, forming the Crests of Knowledge and Loyalty. Then the wall cracked, showing stairs that descended to the depths.

Henry advanced almost right away. The Digidestined hesitated a little before following their guide. The darkness was so blinding that it was impossible to avoid stepping and bumping on each other.

"Ouch! That's my foot!" Yolei whined.

"Sorry!" Ken pleaded to his girlfriend, despite not been able to see her.

"Hey Cody, watch where you're going." TK complained.

"Ouch, someone is stepping on my tail!" Gatomon hissed. Suddenly, a green light shinned, illuminating the all group and its surroundings. Amazingly, the light was coming from Henry's D-3. See the puzzled looks on their faces, Henry smiled:

"My digivice has a few tricks. Though sometimes I wish it could help me control Terriermon, too."

"I've told you, Henry. It will take more than a piece of plastic to hold me quiet." Terriermon admitted proudly.

"How about Suzie's tea parties? You think that enough to control you?" Henry asked. Terriermon gulped at this, not been able to answer. The Digidestined followed the pair, not wanting to break their conversation. Soon after, the stairs ended and the group found itself in the edge of an abyss. In the middle of the abyss, a platform made of stone was floating with something shaped like an ostrich's egg, protected by a golden transparent dome.

"There it is. Our journey is over. Only a Digidestined can pass their hands through the barrier and grasp the Digi-Egg of Righteousness." Henry said, admiring the mighty Digi-Egg.

"We'll take care of that." Gatomon said. She digivolved into Nefertimon and Kari climbed on board. The sphinx flew towards the platform and landed steadily. The platform didn't even shook with their weight. Kari dismounted her and approached the barrier.

'_Well, here goes everything._' she thought pressing her hand into the barrier. Her hands passed through it, like it was made of thin air. She grasped the Digi-Egg within and the barrier disappeared. Kari admired the object. It was made of gold, with silver wings and a silver horn. Decorated with several precious jewels, it had a few inscriptions. They were letters of the Digital World, to which she never knew what they meant. They had succeeded!

"Guys," she called out turning around so they could see the Digi-Egg of Righteousness. "we did it!"

Everyone cheered. But the time to celebrate was short. The cave began to tremble and the triumph and joy of victory was replaced by fear and anxiety. Small bits of the ceiling began to fall.

"Kari, come on!" Nefertimon shrieked. Kari mounted her partner but a piece of the ceiling fell on the sphinx' head. Nefertimon de-digivolved unconscious and both her and Kari began their descend to the darkness of the pit and their imminent deaths.

"KARI! GATOMON!" everybody screamed.

"NO!" TK shout overcome the others.

"Rapidmon to the rescue!" Terriermon quickly digivolved into Rapidmon and rapid like a lightning, the Ultimate caught the falling girl, digimon and Digi-Egg. "And here we have two girls and a Digi-Egg."

"Is Gatomon alright?" Kari asked, eyeing worried the bump on her partner's head.

"Nothing serious. She just needs to rest." Henry checked Gatomon's state and Rapidmon handed him the Digi-Egg, regressing into Terriermon. "Let's get out of here, before another rock rain."

The group returned to the surface, smiling. Despite Davis was only gone for six days, the fact he was now an enemy made that even worse. But no more. When they learned how to use the Digi-Egg of Righteousness, XANA was in for a good surprise. While they were climbing the stairs, TK glanced at Henry, who was carrying the Digi-Egg.

"Hum…Henry." the Tamer gazed at the blond. "Thanks for saving Kari. We all owe you a lot."

"Thanks you're welcome."

"And…I'm sorry. At first I didn't trust you, but now I know you're alright." TK smiled and Henry smiled back. "You're our friend, now."

"Thanks, feels good to be in a group." the group finally made it outside. The children and Digimon cheered in victory. Kari turned to Henry who was now standing behind them, with the Egg on his hands.

"Thanks Henry, we wouldn't make it without…" the sound of something cracking into a hundred pieces ended the cheering and Kari's phrase. The Digidestined turned around and saw several golden pieces of different sizes at Henry's feet.

"Henry, what have you done?" Cody yelped, astonished. Henry smirked and laughed out loud. But his sound was different; a little higher in pitch. A very familiar voice to them. Kari felt a chill up her spine when she recognized the owner's voice.

"Hen…Henry?" she asked.

"Wrong, Sweet cheeks!" the Tamer grinned. "It's me."

"Who?" Yolei questioned.

"Maybe this will help. Shape Shifting!" Henry's figure began to change color. His clothes become white and blue, while his hair turned blond. Terriermon's figure began to pixilize, like a hologram with interferences. The tiny digimon transformed into a Yūjō-Hornet. The monster flew away, though the XANA Warrior stood.

"Jeremie!" Ken gulped. The Tamer revealed himself as the XANA Warrior who had not been seen since the beginning of that day, leaving the heroes petrified.

"Yes, Digidorks. This all thing was Master XANA's plan." Jeremie delighted with the astonished and horrified expression of the heroes. "You see, my Master heard a rumor about a Digi-Egg which could release slaves from any mental imprisonment. He sent Davis to get some information. Learning that only a Digidestined could get that Egg, he came up withthis plan."

Kari felt on her knees before this revelation. Jeremie laughed before continuing.

"Ironic don't you think. We helped you getting something that would assist you in this war and you helped us destroying it. I guess everybody wins!" the evil skier virtualized his skiers and took off, glancing at the blond. "See ya later, TK, my dear friend!"

The bearer of Hope clutched his hat tightly in his hand and started twisting it, before throwing it into the ground. TK screamed at the top of his lungs in fury, then murmuring through clenched teeth.

"Darn you, XANA! Darn you, Jeremie and Davis!" TK only felt this anger towards the powers of Darkness, but now that despise was also directed towards those three. _Wait, no…not the three of them_. A voice in his head advice. Jeremie and Davis were nothing but slaves to XANA. They wouldn't even need to be saved, if it wasn't for XANA. The virus was the only one to blame. Calming himself down and putting the hat back on his head, TK vowed, no longer consumed by rage. "We will beat XANA, I swear it."

**( 1 )** Yūki is Japanese for Courage and Yūjō is Japanese for Friendship.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**It must be their crests!" Gennai continued. **_

"_**Yumi, it's not like that." Ulrich responded.**_

"_**Why only those angels could harm the Mottomiya boy?" Gennai was pulled out of his train of thought by the human's question.**_

**DELETED SCENE:**

Several small In-trainings and Baby level digimon were happily playing soccer, by kicking the ball with their heads. Until a freezing ray froze the ball. The digimon turned around and saw a dark presence, cold as ice. An entity that had became very famous since the Digimon Emperor. The poor digital beings were frozen, not by the villain's power, but by fear, instead.

"Please, please don't hurt us." a Pyocomon among the group pleaded to the being in front of them. The icing bipedal walked towards the digimon with a killing glare on his facial features.

"Icestein!" a newcomer called out. He wielded two twin blades, one of each hand. "Why don't you pick on someone of your own size?"

"It's Samurai Ulrich!" the digimon squealed, relieved. Some of them look up worship at the said samurai. The swordsman and the freezer ran to each other.

"Impact!" he said, hitting the freezer with a wooden sword. The freezer unleashed a small cry of pain.

"Ouch! You hit me too hard." the said freezer, a YukiAgumon, complained.

"Sorry." the swordsman, a Gaomon, asked. A bipedal blue wolf-bear-like digimon. He then smiled. "But I win again. Or rather, Samurai Ulrich wins again."

"Oh, sure. Just because you're the good guy, you always win." YukiAgumon rolled his eyes. "You know, I don't think Ulrich can always beat Jeremie."

"Oh, but he can! If you seen the way he fights and uses his swords." Gaomon said.

"Gaomon, is it true what you said about that Ulrich saved you?" a MetalKoromon asked.

"You bet, twice. Once when I was Yukimibotamon and other when I was Nyaromon." the rookie said. The small ones listened closely to Gaomon who began telling his story of how he met the samurai. Casually, a hooded stranger passed by the group. In front of a small house, the hooded figure approached a round wooden door.


	17. Ep 16 Computeriac

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 16: Computeriac**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

In a silent quiet night, in the Digital World.

"When Project Carthage was destroyed, XANA hibernated. In that time he was a simple AI with no self-awareness. He meant no threat to my World. However…" the bubble that was Franz Hopper unleashed a sighed, despite having no mouth.

"However?" Gennai urged Hopper to keep talking. The pair was now in the Castle that once belonged to Myotismon. The Order had risen again, now focusing on learning more about 'The new enemy', as they called XANA.

"However, the Returns to the Past I triggered to have enough time to build Lyoko strengthened the SuperComputer and XANA. That's how he evolved into the menace he is today." Gennai nodded, apparently satisfied. Hopper had told him everything he knew about XANA, mainly the extension of his powers. Gennai sighed:

"This XANA is totally different of the other enemies we've had. Despite he lives in this World, he is only interested in yours. Despite he is enemies with the Digidestined, he can control them. I have a feeling Davis was only the beginning."

"And you are right. XANA won't stop until he has enough DigiDestined on his grasp to defeat those who remain free." Hopper reasoned. "We have to admit XANA made a smart move: he's turning the problem against itself."

The digital human nodded sadly; he never got to meet Davis properly, though he knew the boy was a replica of younger Tai, only slightly more foolhardy. Gennai could only imagine how Veemon must be. Separating Digimon/human partners is considerate a terrible thing, which makes XANA even worse.

"I just wonder why XANA is only after the Digidestined, when he can possess any human." Gennai glared at the bubble, expecting Hopper to give some answer.

"Before XANA discovered the Digital World, he had one soldier previous to Jeremie: it was William. Both he and Jeremie were attacked by the Scyphozoa. In those days, XANA wanted permanent human servants. That jellyfish monster is the only mean to possess someone who is immune to Tower-possession. The Lyoko Warriors and DigiDestined with Digi-Eggs can't be naturally XANAfied, but there's nothing that can protect them from the Scyphozoa.

Before XANA bounded himself to this world, he could just activate a tower on Lyoko, to possess anyone and get that person into the Scanners. That way, the possession over that person would be permanent. But would XANA want any human he could find? No, he only wants people who he considers powerful. Aelita and her friends always opposed XANA, but they are not easy to catch, for they have experience with his machinations. The younger Digidestined are, unfortunately, an easier target."

Gennai remained silent, assimilating all that information. Out of nothing, Hopper inquired:

"Why only those angels could harm the Mottomiya boy?" Gennai was pulled out of his train of thought by the human's question. He wondered the question for a while and came to conclusion many had come before:

"I guess it's because they're angels. They're better at dealing with evildoers." Gennai answered shrugging.

"No, it's something else. I'm sure of that" Hopper uttered silently. "and knowing XANA as well as I do, he is sure of that, too. Besides been angels, what is the big difference between them and the other digimon?"

Both the bubble human and virtual man hummed thinking of an answer to that question. Gennai frowned then realization sparked in his mind:

"Hope and Light!" the young 'man' dressed in a robe exclaimed.

"Pardon?"

"It must be their crests! They are the cause why they can hurt Davis." Gennai continued.

"Hope and Light? Why?" the bubble asked, puzzled.

"Those two symbols are different from the others." Gennai explained. "Azulongmon once told this to the children, but apparently, they did not took those words close to the letter enough. I'm going to talk to Azulongmon! He holds the powers of Light and Hope, so…"

A young woman came in, panting. Before any of the two could ask, she approached Gennai and said, breathing hard:

"Sir … we found something … MoonMilleniummon … did something … incredible… XANA."

"Birgit, calm down. What is happening? Something bad happened?" Gennai inquired. She shook her head.

"Nothing bad…It's something amazing, Sir." she leaned closer and whispered on Gennai's ear. With each word murmured, Gennai's eyes went wider. Franz remained silent, like he wasn't even present. Gennai took a moment to think about any proceeds, after she finished.

"Birgit, take Franz to our Research Lab. He might be useful there. After that, meet me with Oscar on the Great Hall and bring all the available information about this MoonMilleniummon."

Little did anyone know that outside the castle, two humans were staring at it, with a semi-transparent barrier separating them from the structure, the darkness of the night covering them. Davis Motomiya and Jeremie Belpois observed their enemies' head quarters, completely unable to do anything about it. Davis sighed in an upset way.

"Red Breath!" the newest XANA Warrior unleashed a wave of red flames against the protective digital barrier, which didn't givein. The transparent dome remained intact, undamaged and impenetrable. Jeremie rolled his eyes, watching Davis useless attempt:

"It's been the fifth time you have done that. Nothing with XANA on it can scratch the wall, let alone trespass it." the skier muttered. He began to walk around the dome, as they had done several times, that night. Davis followed him.

"I know. I'm just sick of been here. We've been walking around this dome like forever!" Davis growled. Jeremie swore this new companion of his had a few problems with his temper.

"Yeah, but it is way better than to be stuck in the hood, listening Double Zero ranting." Belpois commented, with a sly smile. Ever since he noticed his Master's sanity had become twisted, Jeremie began to call him insulting nicknames on his back. Davis muttered:

"Can't you find anything better than 'double zero'?"

"Well, XANA is made of 0s and 1s, so what nickname better than 'double zero', now that he has become a real zero?" Jeremie countered.

"You know, better leave nicknames to Della-Robia. You just don't have the touch for that." Davis argued.

"Point taken." Jeremie agreed. They kept strolling around the barrier, silently until Davis asked:

"Has that joker XANA always been like this?"

"Nope. Before we crossed to this world, he was much more rational. Not much of a personality, but he was a respectful enemy. Now he's only a joke, like you said." Jeremie didn't felt very ashamed of been insulting his master, though he added. "Although, he is still a cunning mastermind, like the old days. Otherwise, we would have lost this war long ago."

"Point taken." Davis nodded. "Speaking of XANA, when is he going to execute his new plan?"

"When the target's bodyguard is out of the way." Jeremie responded. Another while went through until a question also popped up on Jeremie's head:

"Why can you only be hurt by angels?" the black XANA Warrior shrugged at this. "The Double Zero says it's not because they're angels, but for something else. What do you think?"

"I dunno." Davis shrugged, feeling a little upset that Jeremie brought that conversation. The two allies continued their walk until Davis felt a sharp pain in his head and bent over.

"Davis? You ok?" Jeremie asked, a little concerned. Not that he saw Davis as a friend but they were fighting on the same side. Davis couldn't hear Jeremie because his head was now full of blurry pictures and voices.

_ Davis was on a medium size room, with several other kids. His XANA Avatar was gone, leaving him with clothes, such as a jacket with flames and a pair of googles on his head._

"_This is just another reason for us to beat XANA. What he did can't go unpunished." the blond guy with a hat said._

_ "You're right. I'm with you, TK." the short brunette kid supported_

_ "That's right! When they mess with one of us, they mess with the all group." he, Davis, cheered._

_ "Just like we told Jeremie: our power comes for our unity." a girl with brunette hair added. She had a camera around her neck._

_ "Hey, don't forget about us." The Lyoko Warriors joined in._

_ "Our us." a boy with indigo hair and a girl with long crimson hair._

_ The scene became even more blurry and disappeared. A new scenario replaced it. Davis was on a very damaged building, facing a huge monstrous digimon, which was staring savagely at him._

_ "__I'm here. I'm right here next to you. I'm not scared." Davis said._

"_Really?" a girl's telepathic voice, along with the sound of a rattle, inquired._

_"Because... you are __Nat-chan__." Davis finished and the scene disappeared completely as the pain did._

Davis reopened his eyes and was back in the Digital World, in his XANA Avatar. Jeremie was looking at him. Davis stood up, like it had happened nothing.

"I had some weird visions." the demon-like XANA Warrior spoke. Jeremie chuckled:

"Yeah, I should have seen that coming. I had them too in my first days of servitude."

Davis thought about those hallucinations, before dismissing everything and walking away. He needed something to make him forget that.

"Where are you going?" the skier asked.

"Kill some digimon to pass the time."

"Fine but don't get too late to the base. Remember, tonight it's your turn to change XANA's diaper." Jeremie chuckled.

"Oh, joy!" Davis muttered under his breath.

_Back on Kadic, in the cafeteria…_

"Hey Aelita, you want my croissant?" Ulrich offered to the crestfallen pinkette. The girl sighed as an answer. Ever since Henry Wong (who turned out to be Jeremie) double-crossed them, Aelita adopted a low mood. She actually believed that stranger was there to help them, but XANA was behind that all along. What was worse was that they helped XANA getting rid of an impediment that could have been useful to them.

"Say, Princess, your DJing of last week sure did the trick." Odd complimented, trying to cheer the girl up but to no avail. "It was even better than your performance with the SubDigitals, when Jeremie…" Odd covered his mouth quickly with both hands but too late. The sound of that made Aelita's eyes go teary.

"I know what you two are trying to do… and it's not working." the last part of that phrase was spoken sobbing. Aelita took off, carrying her tray with her.

"Bravo! Real outstanding, Odd." Ulrich growled.

"Sorry. I was just trying to help, OK?" Odd countered. "Well, at least, things can't get any worse."

Ulrich sighed and leaved. He was about to exit the cafeteria, with Emily entering. However, the girl slipped on mash potatoes, on her back.

"Watch out!" Ulrich tried to grab her, but he fell on his stomach, over Emily. Their faces were a few inches from each other; their noses actually touched. The other students on the cafeteria began to whisper, giving knowing smirks or whistling. Some actually began to sing '_Sitting in a tree_'.

"Sorry, Emily. I…" Ulrich immediately stood up, with his cheeks stained. This was utterly embarrassing. And it was about to get better when Ulrich look at the exit of the cafeteria. Yumi Ishiyama was standing there, a look of hurt and disbelief in her eyes.

"Yumi…it's not what you think. Yumi!" here, the girl ran away, her eyes in the same state as Aelita's. Ulrich took off, running after the geisha. Odd watched the all scene frowning. Once again, those two would be holding back the team for a few days, refusing to interact with each other.

"And to think I said things couldn't get any worse." the blond Italian muttered. Yumi stopped by the woods where the manhole to the factory was hidden. Ulrich almost bumped into her.

"Get away!" she hissed, without looking at him.

"Yumi, it's not like that." Ulrich responded.

"Yes, it is! I've seen it all. Why don't you go back to Emily? Your _girlfriend _must be worried about you." she said bitterly.

"Emily is not my girlfriend! I don't like her. I only like…" Ulrich stopped talking before he could say the word 'you'. Yumi took that hesitation as something different.

"Oh, I get it. You like that stupid pain-in-the-neck Sissi, don't you?"

"What? Are you nuts? No!" Ulrich retorted unnecessarily harshly. Yumi took off without another word, dropping tears.

"Good bye, Ulrich Stern." she said. Ulrich stood where he was, half-revolted half-sorry. Why did Emily choose that moment to slip? Ulrich cell-phone rang, but he ignored it for a moment. Solemnly, Ulrich raised the cell to his eye level: SOS XANA!

_In Odaiba…_

"Tentomon isn't here. He's sick, so I _convinced _him to stay home." Izzy explained. Cody was in the computer room, e-mailing everyone else about the new found Spire. He noticed the lack of an insect digimon guarding his partner. Ever since the older group was XANAfied **(Episode 11)**, their digimon became particularly protective, always watching the humans in case they were to be victims of XANA's control, again.

"You _convinced_ him?" the short brunette asked.

"He's been watching me for weeks now. He could use a little rest…Plus, I don't like been followed 24/7." the red-head admitted. Just then, Yolei, Kari and TK appeared. They all had smiley faces.

"Hey, Izzy, guess who just popped in?" Kari asked with a knowing smile. Behind them, a familiar figure walked forward, revealing herself: Mimi Tachikawa.

"Mimi!" Izzy exclaimed, more surprised than pleased.

"Hi Izzy! Didn't miss me, did you?" the pinkette asked with a seductive smirk.

"No…I mean, yes." the red-head looked troubled. He looked around, expecting to find someone else. "Is Palmon with you?

"No, she's visiting Byomon. Why?"

"Mimi, go home! XANA can attack you at anytime and since Palmon isn't with you, you won't be of any use in the Digital World." the redhead spoke sternly. Mimi flinched, as if those words had physically injured her. The younger group looked tense at Izzy.

"But…"

"No butts, Mimi! Go away, it's for your own good!" the computer genius bellowed. Mimi looked at him with wide teary eyes and ran away, sobbing. The other Digidestined and Digimon were stunned.

"Izzy, what was that all about?" Yolei yelled.

"It was for her own good. She will understand." he retorted, totally indifferent.

"Let's just go already!" Izzy growled. The others frowned at that. Since when did Izzy Izumy growled? He relaxed a little.

"Look guys, I'm just worried about her. I'll apologize later." he promised. The rest of the gang nodded.

_In the factory…_

"Glad to see you've made it." Aelita confessed when the lock door opened, revealing an upset Ulrich, and angry Yumi and a tired looking William. Odd was already in the Scanner Room.

"Sorry, Sissi is becoming a real pain in my neck." the giant sword wielder said. "She's always threatening me so I tell her where we are going."

Aelita hummed looking for a momentat the other two. Knocking them as well as she did, it was another _misunderstanding_. A problem for another day.

"I'll send two of you along with Odd, first. Then I'll trigger a delayed virtualization for me and whoever stays."

"I'm staying with you." Yumi said quickly, her gaze not softening a bit, refusing to look at the brunette of the group.

_The teams meet…_

"Hey guys!" Cody called out. The Digidestined met the Lyoko Warriors, when Aelita and Yumi were virtualized.

"Good to see you, fellows." Armadillomon saluted.

"We've made it all here, Izzy. We're ready to go." Aelita said to the skies of the Digital World. The tone of Izzy's reply made the heroes gasp:

"_**Sorry, Aelita. But I have other plans.**_" a chuckled followed the phrase spoke by the XANAfied computer pro.

"Oh, dear!" Wormmon squealed.

"Oh, man. Not again!" Ulrich sighed.

"_**Oh yes, Binky-boy. Say **_**tah**_**-tah to **_**Aeli**_**tah.**_" with that, Aelita disintegrated in a cloud of pixels and her wireframe disappeared.

"Aelita!" Kari squealed.

"What have you done to her, XANA?" Ulrich grunted.

"_**Don't be such a baby. She's in a desert, in the South Hemisphere of the Digital World. But she's not alone; two Yujo-Creepers are keeping her company**__._" in the Real World, Izzy began typing madly, his eyes pulsing like never before. "_**But you guys are in equally big trouble. I've shut down the Scanners and blocked normal Digivolution. No Materialization, no Champion or Ultimate forms. And it's time for the real game! Now you see why I sent Mimi away?**_"

With that, Odd also disappeared, followed by Yumi, Yolei and Hawkmon, Kari and Gatomon, William, TK and Patamon and finally Cody and Armadillomon. Only the Samurai remained.

"_**Well, I guess you can stay where you are.**_**"** Izzy sighed, uninterested.

"You're not getting away with this, XANA!" Ulrich hissed.

"_**Is that so, Binky-boy? Give me one good reason why I ain't gonna get away with this, without using the letters A, Q or W.**_" the XANAfied Digidestined demanded. Ulrich cursed something in German under his breath. "_**I thought so. By the way, there are one or two **__**Yūki-Megatanks rolling around there.**__**I'd be careful, if I were you.**__"_

_Back with Mimi..._

"That's okay, Mimi. You don't need him. There are lots of other guys, out there." Palmon tried to cheer up Mimi. The girl and the digimon were alone in the park. The plant digimon spent the last minutes insulting Izzy as a 'computer-obsessed geeky jerk' and claiming he didn't deserve a caring girl like her.

"I just don't get it. Why was he acting like that?" Mimi whined. Palmon patted Mimi's shoulder.

"Maybe..." the plant began, but Mimi cut her short.

"It was like he was possessed or..." the pink-haired girl's face illuminated with realization. She quickly dried her tears:

"That's it! Palmon, it's XANA. Izzy is under his control!"

"Mimi...just because XANA has a huge grunge on us, that doesn't mean he is to blamed by everything." Palmon retorted.

"No, don't you see. When I got to the Computer Room, he looked around nervously and asked me where you were. XANA didn't count with me showing up." Mimi began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "I told Izzy, or rather, XANA that you weren't with me and was going to stay with him. But he didn't let me because he knew I would ruin his plan!"

Palmon didn't have time to agree or disagree, for Mimi grabbed her by the arm and broke into a run to the school.

"Mimi, wait! What are we gonna do?" the rookie inquired.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. Let see if what Izzy taught me about that pulse thingy was worth the trouble."

_Meanwhile…_

Ulrich didn't personally like running away from a fight, unless someone's life depended on it. And this seemed to a case; it was already hard fighting a normal Megatank and he hadn't totally got used to these new Armor-Monsters. Besides, the others were in trouble, too.

"SuperSprint!" the Samurai ran from his pursuers, who rolled after him. Looking over his shoulder, Ulrich saw the metal balls closing in. "These guys stuck even more than Sissi used to."

Ulrich then recognized the mountain where he was. He and Yumi came one day here to train and there was a road which ended in an abyss, in a dangerous abrupt turn, around a cliff. Ulrich smiled at the idea. He ran around the cliff and the Armor-Monsters followed suit. What they did not expect was for the road to end in a pit. The Yūki-Megatanks had no time to stop and fell into the abyss. Ulrich was grasping on a thick branch coming out of the rock.

"Quite a cliffhanger." Ulrich bounced on the branch and landed on the road, again. "Now I only have to find the others. If only I had a digivice..."

A sound stopped his monologue. It was a sound of something spinning. A noise he recognized clearly; Yumi's fans! Ulrich set out looking for the geisha before it was too late.

_With Ken and __YasashiiYanmamon_

"Sonic Shock!" the pink armored dragon-fly sent a sound wave against the Yuki-Hornets, destroying them. However, another swarm, this time Yujo-Hornets, immediately took the place of the fallen one.

"We have to get out of here, YasashiiYanmamon!" Ken shouted, his partner flying right behind him. "There's too many of them!"

"Dragon Sting!" YasashiiYanmamon made one attempt to destroy one of the new enemies, but they managed to avoid the blow. The insect digimon turned around and ran after Ken. The Yujo-Hornets joined their stings on their tails and shoot a blue thunder, striking the fleeing digimon. The dragon-fly cried out and de-digivolved.

"Wormmon!" Ken turned back and grabbed his falling, unconscious partner. Unfortunately, the monsters reached them. Ken prepared for the last blow but it didn't come. The Hornet just surrounded the boy and his sleeping partner.

'_It's almost as if they're guarding…Oh, no!'_ as if answering Ken's mental question, the sound that recently had become familiar to him and his friends was heard once again. Ken turned around to be greeted by the Scyphozoa's tentacles.

_In the real World_

"**And the Oscar for the best plan to eliminate some pesty enemies goes to…**" Izzy paused for effect, imitating a real presenter. XANA was imaging his victory and how jealous his fellow villains would be. "**the Villain of the Year, XANA!**"

"**Thank you! Thank you! I deserve this, for I am way better than you, suckers! Now suck on my Oscar, nerds. Come on, suck on it!**" The possessed redhead chuckled but stopped when he heard someone approaching. He camouflaged the symbol on his eyes to look like normal pupils and changed his voice. It was that Tachikawa girl, again.

"Oh, Mimi." Izzy frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I just stopped by to see how you're managing, Izzy." she said, frowning as well. "Or should I say, XANA?"

Izzy unleashed an electrical wave, knocking Mimi into the sliding door.

"**Very smart for a fashion obsessed pinky. But you're too late.**" Izzy looked at the screen with a pleased smile. "**Your friends are in a gigabyte of trouble, I've set up everything so they can't rematerialize nor digivolve. You might as well sit back and enjoy as your friends perish.**"

"Hey XANA, what would happen if I pull the plug of your computer?" Mimi asked out of the sudden. Izzy smile changed into a worried frown. That was enough to answer Mimi's question, which was the one smiling now.

"It would delete all the changes you made." she stated. The XANAfied digidestined stood up, throwing his chair away in the process.

"**I dare you to try, meat-bag.**" he threatened, his eyes pulsing more violently, his hand sparking.

"Ok, I won't." she replied, unfazed. Izzy frowned, confused. "I think I'll cut the power to the entire school, instead." Mimi turned wheels and ran out of the room. Izzy groaned and ran after her, through the school's corridors.

"**Pinky, when I get my hands on you, I'm gonna ask you a motive to not kill you, without suing the letters U, V and X!**" Izzy grunted right behind the girl. Mimi turned around the corner, with the possessed red-head on her tail.

"Surprise, XANA!" Palmon greeted him, on the other side of the corner. She had a laptop with her and that was the last thing Izzy saw, before unconsciousness claimed him.

"Looks like it worked." Palmon stated. Izzy was lying on the floor. The laptop Palmon had was programmed with un upgraded version Jeremie's EMP Anti-XANA bomb, like it was used against Tai and Matt **(Episode 6: Killer Siblings)**. "But since when can you program one of these?"

"I actually pay attention to Izzy when he chats about computers and stuff to use against XANA. Now we have to tie him up and hide him somewhere."

Using Palmon's Poison Ivy, the human girl and digimon girl put the sleeping tied up Izzy into a janitor's closet and moved to the Computer Room.

"Guys, are you there? Guys?" Mimi said, over the speaker.

"_Mimi, is that you? Where's Izzy?"_ it was Aelita.

"Taken care of. What can I do to help?"

"_Pay attention, Mimi. I'll guide you._"

"OK…wait." Mimi noticed a window with three elements: Ken's silhouette, the Eye of XANA and a counting in percentage. "Aelita, there's a weird window here, Ken's picture."

"_Ken? Oh, no! The Scyphozoa. Mimi, look for who's closer to him and contact them! If we don't hurry up, we'll have another _Davis_ to deal with!"_

_With Ulrich and Yumi_

In the mountains, by the side of an abyss, Yumi hurled her fan at the last Yuki-Krab, destroying it. Unbeknownst to her, a Yujo-Block was about to shoot an electrical blow at the geisha, on her back. But before he had the chance:

"Yumi, watch out!" Ulrich cried out, arriving out of nowhere. The Japanese girl dodged the deadly blow and Ulrich stabbed the Block:

"Impact!" the monsters exploded, ending the fight. Yumi didn't even bother to thank.

"Where are the others?" she asked, sternly as if it was Ulrich's responsibility to know.

"I don't know. I wa…"

"Then we should split up. We can cover more ground that way." she turned wheels without waiting for his reply. Ulrich grabbed her wrist.

"You want to separate so that XANA can hunt us down, one by one?"

Yumi broke free from his grip and began to walk away. Ulrich Super Sprinted, blocking her way.

"Is this because of what happened at the cafeteria?" the Samurai questioned. Yumi just crossed her arms and snarled sarcastically:

"Wow, how long it took you to figure that out, Sherlock Stern?"

"Yumi, I've told you it was an accident." the german said in a harsh tone. Why had a girl so beautiful to be so stubborn?

"Oh, yeah? It didn't seem like an accident, from where I saw!" she spat and turned around, not wanting to look at him. Ulrich clenched his teeth and fists. When Yumi was mad it usually drove him mad, as well.

"Why is it always like this? We get mad at each other for stupid reasons, then we make up. Then we just argue again and later make up, over and over again!"

Yumi stood there, not moving as did Ulrich. Minutes passed until tension calmed down. But the two Lyoko Warriors didn't even move. The birds were singing, the wind was blowing. Even a Byomon passed by but the mood didn't change. Ulrich was mumbling why he wanted Yumi to understand the truth, so badly. Maybe because she was smart, understandable, funny, strong, mature, beautiful…

"You're beautiful." he sighed, oblivious. Ulrich eyes went wide when he realized he had said that out loud. He hoped she hadn't heard that. But no such luck.

"Not liste…What?" she asked, puzzled, finally eyeing him through the corner of her eye. "What did you say?"

Ulrich was about to speak but the Universe didn't allow him to. A barrage of fire hit them both. A swarm of Yuki-Hornets just crashed in.

"We'll talk later." Ulrich unsheathed his blades and Yumi prepared her fans. However, the Armor-monsters had a trick up their figurative sleeves. The Hornets began to shriek and their armors morphed and changed collours. They had become Yujo-Hornets! Now with electrical abilities, they joined forces and unleashed a mighty ray. Yumi and Ulrich jumped to avoid the certain deadly attack. However, the impact the ray had on the ground caused a small explosion, tossing the two humans away. Both landed safely, but that cost their weapons in the process. The twin blades and twin fans were lost into the depths of the abyss.

_Now, Cody…_

"Mon, I'm a digger, not a runner." Digmon complained. He fired his drills at the Yuki-Lobscion. The drills didn't even scratch the mutant-lobster-scorpion's armor. He fired his tail-laser, surrounded by flames. The attack hit Digmon, reducing him to Armadillomon.

"Armadillomon are you ok?" Cody tended to his friend. The rookie moaned. The Armor-Monster walked towards them, intending to finish them off. But then, he stopped and departed, leaving the Digidestined and digimon alone.

"Why did he left us? He had us at his mercy." Cody questioned, looking puzzled at the departing monsters.

"Maybe it's time for his break." Armadillomon suggested.

"Or maybe it's time to break you two." a voice they knew all-too-well spoke. Out of nowhere, Davis appeared. His eyes were burning with anger, his mouth twisted in a smile, nonetheless.

"Davis!" Cody and Armadillomon gasped.

"Surprise! And goodbye! Red Breath!" the XANA Warrior unleashed a burning wave of red flames from his mouth, planning to incinerate the two enemies. Cody and Armadillomon closed their eyes, awaiting the inevitable end. It was all over for them!

'_I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Cody. I failed._' the yellow creature mentally whispered.

'_This is it. I'm going to join you now, Dad. I'm sorry, Armadillomon for you having to be in this too.'_ Cody cried in his inner-thoughts.

It seemed it was true what people said about when one is face-to-face with death, everything goes in slow motion. The flames which were about to burn them to the ground took like forever to do it. Cody risked opening an eyelid. Instead of a barrage of fire, a giant digimon had its back turned to the pair. Stunned, Cody whispered to Armadillomon:

"Armadillomon, look." the armadillo opened his eyes, slowly and gapped at the size of the creature in front of them.

"I never saw a digimon like it." the two walked away and saw Davis staring at the new digimon. This new digimon was a terrifying bipedal mammal like creature. It had very dark blue fur, big, sharp claws on his hands and paws, spikes on his back, coming out of his spinal column and a wolf-like head, with deep red eyes. Despite its menacing looks, the digimon just kept staring calmly at Davis, as the XANAfied boy did the same to it.

"What's going on here? Don't tell me this is a staring contest." Armadillomon said. Davis was having a mental battle. In his mind, he wanted to tell the new digimon _'Get out of the way, or die!'_, but somehow, his mouth didn't work and his arm refused to attack it. As if he was trying to prevent himself from harming this new digimon.

A sound. A distant sound of a rattle. The noise was somewhat familiar to the XANA Warrior. And then a voice. A little girl's voice. It said something. Something he could not make out. The voice sounded like it was whispered through a very thin wall of glass. '_Davis'_ it said.

That single word triggered a barrage of emotions and memories in Davis head. Anger, confusion, guilt, fear, doubt, pain, a will of struggling to break free, longing for someone, a desire to help somebody…

Davis found himself into different scenarios. In some of them, he had a strange black uniform and felt nothing but anger and a desire to cut the throats of certain children. In others, he was dressed with a jacket and had an overwhelming desire of caring and helping those same children. The two Davis seemed so different. Which one was he? The protector or the killer? The hero or the villain? The good or the evil?

Davis fell on his knees and grasped his horns, clenching his teeth. A humongous headache was threatening to make his head explode. He screamed his lungs out; the pain was immense!

"Davis…" Cody wanted nothing more to help, but his experience with XANA alerted him that the evil AI was very cunning and used the others' feelings to lure them into traps. Davis was a living proof of that. The giant nameless digimon came closer to Davis and touched his head with the tip of its snout.

"Davis." despite having not moved its lips, Cody and Armadillomon heard the digimon's female soft voice perfectly. Davis opened his eyes; the pain was all gone, though the confusion about his identity still remained, as well as sorrow did. He stood up and Cody and Armadillomon braced themselves for a new attack. Davis totally ignored them and focused on the giant female digimon. He touched the digimon's snout and whispered a single word:

"Nat-chan."

Just then, a new person joined the party. Sliding away in a pair of skiers, in spite of the lack of snow, Jeremie Belpois appeared. He looked suspiciously at the digimon and Davis (who was still staring at it, unaware of the blond' arrival). His gaze changed from confusion and curiosity into a pleased and grim smirk when he spotted Cody and Armadillomon. The boy and his digimon were also unaware of Jeremie's presence, for their attention was only focused on the strange event.

"Hello boys!" Jeremie complimented out loud, tired of been completely ignored.

"Icestein!" Cody and Armadillomon both yelped.

"I'm a little sick of that nickname. But I'm even sicker of you two!" Jeremie readied his spikes. "Good bye! Ice!"

The deadly freezing ray was aimed at them. Unfortunately for the mocking XANA Warrior, the unknown digimon blocked the attack with its massive hand.

"What the…? You're interfering, you pile of digital dust. Move or die!" Jeremie threatened. The digimon however did not move. In fact, it growled at him, as if answering the human's threat. Davis watched everything from the sidelines, not knowing if he should help Jeremie or stop him from hurting Nat-chan.

"Fine. Take this!" Jeremie used his elemental force to create ice spears, which were thrown at the digimon, injuring it in several places.

"Hey, why don't you mess with someone of your own size?" Cody hissed.

"Tell that to this freak. It was the one who messed with me." Jeremie countered casually. When the digimon cried out in pain and faded away, Davis felt something strange. Something he wasn't supposed to feel at the presence situation: a blind and senseless wrath.

"BELPOIS!" Davis lashed out at Jeremie, wanting to tear him apart with his claw-hand. That grunt was the only warning Jeremie had to avoid been sliced in pieces.

"Davis, what's gotten into to you?" the skier yelled.

"Dark Field!" Davis's red plasma ball went straight to Jeremie. The ice warrior slide out of the way, but the Dark Field followed him like a ThermalMissile**.**

"Ice!" Jeremie fired his freezing ray against the red energy ball, making it explode. "You won't defeat me so easily, you treacherous freak!"

"We'll see, Jack Frost!" Davis insulted back. Jeremie clenched his teeth.

"I hate that nickname even more than I hate the other!"

The fight started. Davis was undoubtedly more powerful, but Jeremie had much more experience. Though Jeremie could only defend himself, for it was pointless for him to attack the practically invulnerable XANA Warrior. Cody and Armadillomon watched the fight, from the sidelines.

"What should we do? Put some bets?" Armadillomon suggested.

"_Cody? Are you there?"_ a female voice called out from the sky.

"Mimi!"

"_Yeah. Aelita told me how to undo what XANA did. You can digivolve again._" Mimi informed. "_Wait…Davis and Jeremie are right next to you?"_

"Yes. And what's more, they're fighting." Cody answered. "It's something about some Nat-chan, I guess."

"_Nat-chan? You sure?_"

"Yes, but later. Where are the others?"

"_Ken was attacked by the jellyfish, but Yolei and Kari saved him. They're heading towards Aelita and the others_."

"Where are they?" Armadillomon asked.

"_South of where you are._"

And so the two left the area, leaving Jeremie and Davis entertained on their match.

_The samurai and the geisha…_

"Looks like this is it." Yumi sighed, crestfallen. The Yujo-Hornets were preparing the final blow. With the Scanners de-activated, they're roadkill. Ulrich took Yumi's hand and looked at her.

"Yumi…since this is the end…I want to say…"

"Will you quit already, Ulrich? We are about to die, there's no time for apologies." she sighed exasperatedly.

"I'm not sorry for something I didn't do." Ulrich countered, acidly again for Yumi still thinking he planned the scene on the cafeteria. "I don't like Emily, for crying out loud! I love you!"

"Ul…Ulrich." Yumi was then knocked into oblivion and so did Ulrich by the jolt of the Armor-Hornets. Yumi was in an infinitude of darkness. Nothing but blackness, until she heard a hissing sound and a door opened. Yumi stepped out of her Scanner uneasily. As Ulrich creeps out of his and lay on the cold metal floor, Yumi approached him. She looked at him in the eyes. One thing she knew for certain: he really loved her.

"Aishiteru. **(1)**" she said with a smile.

"Ich liebe dich. **(2)**" Ulrich repeated.

_With Odd and William…_

"Let's roll outta here!" Odd screamed.

"Roll? They are the ones rolling!" William bellowed. The two Lyoko Warriors were running from seven Yuki Megatanks. Whenever they tried to fight back, the metal monsters would simply cover themselves in flames, rendering Energy Disks and Laser Arrows useless. What's more they couldn't stop, unless they wanted to be run over. The two kept running and in the meadow, until William spotted their way out of that mess.

"Let's go through that forest, Odd!" they entered a dense forest. It was dense enough to make the monsters slowing down, but not to stop them. Though that was enough to put a good distance between them.

"Great idea going through the woods!"

"When are you gonna admit my ideas are always great?" William said back.

"Yeah, whatever…" Odd then frowned and sniffed the air. "Hey Will, can you smell this?"

William sniffed the air to and got Odd's message.

"Yeah, it's smoke. Something is burning…" William stopped and both the cat and the swordsman looked over their shoulders, at the Yuki-Megatanks. Since the field was against the monster, they decided to change the field. By using their fire power, the metal creatures were burning the forest, destroying tree after tree easily as they rolled.

"Even more running!" they yelped and carried on the ran for their lives.

"Well, at least, it can't get any…" Odd commented but didn't have time to finish. Their run didn't last long, for suddenly they could no longer feel the floor beneath their feet. When Odd and William gave another step, a giant hole opened under them. That hole had been camouflaged by leafs, branches and a thin layer of dirt, completely hiding its presence. As gravity began to work, an upset William turned to Odd:

"Were you gonna say 'worse'?"

Fortunately for them, the ground was already visible. William landed on his feet (lucky, hã?) while Odd landed with his face square on the dirt of the bottom.

"Did you just fell on your face? What kind of cat are you?" William shook his head, disappointed.

"Don't…say...anything." Odd growled, massaging his sore face, while William looked up. The Megatanks didn't follow them.

"Looks like we lost them." he stated. "Hey Odd, any clue of…"

William looked at his friend, who was now staring at whatever was behind William. Nervously slowly, the Scottish looked at whatever Odd was pointing: An entrance to a chamber. Inside the chamber, the red glowing Control Spire controlling Izzy was standing.

"How convenient." William prepared his sword. "Energy…"

The attack was interrupted for several Yujo-Tarantulas and Yuki-Mantas firing at them. Odd and William had to stay out of the way and take cover behind a rock.

"Just great!"

"Incoming!" three voices shouted, belonging to three digimon they undoubtedly knew. Stingmon, Nefertimon and Aquilamon just showed up, each one carrying its partner.

"Spiking Strike!"

"Blast Rings!"

"Rosetta Stones!"

The attacks destroyed the monsters in the front lines. But there were more in the way.

"Good, the cavalry is here!"

_Back in Computer Room…_

"Odd and William found the tower, Aelita. Its north of your position, in the bottom of a hole, on a burned forest." Mimi said over the speaker.

"_Roger, Mimi._" Aelita replied.

"Who's Roger?" Mimi joked, but that was no time for jokes. The sliding door burst opened and the menacing figure of Izzy stepped in. Mimi looked frightened at her possessed almost-boyfriend.

"Poison Ivy!" Izzy allowed the ivies wrapped around him before unleashing a powerful shock, which ran through the plant and into Palmon. The rookie cried out and fainted.

"Palmon!" Mimi cried out as well. She gave Izzy a menacing look. "Nobody hurts my partner. Not even my man!"

Mimi picked her chair and tossed at Izzy. The object hit his face, but the XANAfied digidestined didn't even flinch or moved away. He came closer to Mimi and grabbed her by her neck.

"**Did you realy think that would stop me?**"

"No, but I think this will. Sorry, Izzy." she whispered. Izzy quirked and eyebrow, confused. His eyes went wide when he felt a devastating pain. Mimi had just kneed him on his family jewels! Izzy fell in the floor rolling in pain. Mimi attended Palmon, then. The digimon stirred and began to wake up.

"Three … Mimies?" she mumbled. Mimi picked her up and grabbed the communicator:

"Guys, Izzy is here!"

"_Quick, unplug the computer and ran away!"_ Aelita yelled. Carrying her dazed partner, Mimi did so and broke into a run, right before Izzy standing back up. Unfortunately for the villain, he lost the girl.

"Hey, XANA!" a voice called out. But it wasn't Mimi's. It was a male voice. Izzy turned around and met a very unexpected face: Davis Motomiya's face!

"If you're looking for that Tachikawa girl, she's hiding in that classroom." 'Davis' pointed to a door. It was then it hit Izzy, or rather, XANA. It couldn't be Davis. The said boy was on the Digital World, fighting Jeremie and out of control.

"**You're a clone of Davis, aren't you? Aelita created you to replace the real Davis, right?**"

"Yeah, so?" Davis Clone asked.

"**Then why are you helping me?**" the XANAfied boy questioned.

"'Cause I don't really like those dorks. And I do whatever I want. That's why." the clone answered simply. "And don't forget that. See ya round."

Izzy watched the Monomorphic Specter leaving the scene with curiosity and suspect. The read-head hummed to himself before opening the door, to his pleased surprise, finding Mimi.

_With our heroes…_

"This isn't going well." Stingmon commented. Some of the monsters had been destroyed, but the battle wasn't over. If the Tarantulas and Mantas were normal monsters, like in the old days, the good guys would have won by now. One champion, one Ultimate and three Lyoko Warriors wasn't enough.

====Scene Break====

Izzy grabbed Mimi's and Palmon's necks and unleashed sparks from his fists. Both the girl and her partner cried out in pain. Mimi opened her eyelids just a bit. Izzy's face was twisted in ecstasy.

"Izzy…please, stop!"

====Scene Break====

"Come on, we have to hurry!" Aelita yelped, tossing an Energy Field at a Manta. The monster avoided the blow. All was lost, they didn't had enough time to destroy and monsters and get to the tower. Soon enough, Mimi and Palmon would be fried.

"I don't believe this. All is lost." Yolei despaired.

"No it's not!" a new voice yelled. It was TK! The heroes looked up and saw TK and Cody, ridding on Shakkoumon.

"Justice Beams!" that attack caught many of the monster by surprise. With another Ultimate, things were different. Shakkoumon saved the day with his trademark move:

"Kachina Bombs!" the explosive disks destroyed the monsters in the way of the tower. But more importantly, also knocked down the tower.

"Oh, yeah!" Odd cheered. The remaining creatures departed, recognizing defeat.

"We did it!" Ulrich and Yumi hugged each other, on the Lab.

_Later…_

"Are you sure Davis said that, Cody?" Mimi asked. They were gathered in the Computer Room. Aelita was, as usual, communicating through a window chat. Izzy was still apologizing over and over for what he did.

"Yes, that name reminded me of the adventure you, Davis and Willis had in New York." Cody said.

Mimi hummed before replying:

"Though I remember Nat-chan been all obsessed with Davis. Back then, she didn't care much about the rest of us. Especially if you were a digimon."

"Then why did she protect Cody and Armadillomon?" Izzy inquired.

"No idea." the oldest girl answered.

"For your description, I never heard of a digimon that looked like that. I don't even know if there's a digimon like that Nat-chan." Gatomon mused.

"_You know, guys. In the first days Jeremie was enslaved, he stopped hurting Yumi when she reminded him who he was._" Aelita recalled, from her graphic window. **(Diary of a Slave: Chapter 2)**

"Could we use this to save them from XANA?" Kari asked, hopefully.

"No. I think this is just an unexpected effect from the Scyphozoa's brainwashing. Soon XANA will have full control over Davis," Aelita's voice gained a downed tone. "just like he did with Jeremie."

The group became silent and TK noticed it was a saddening, downing silence.

"Guys, let's stop sulking around. Today we won. Let's go out for some pizza." TK proposed, cheerful. The digimon agreed immediately.

"Yay! Pizza." Yolei cheered.

"I swear Yolei, you're appetite is matching Odd's today." Ken teased with a smile.

"Ken, you know I don't like people who tease me." Yolei countered, with a smile. Kari gave a sideways look at the couple and looked at TK.

"You know, TK. You've been more cheerful than usual." she whispered to him. TK gave her a ghost of a smile.

"Since our usual 'cheer up' Davis is not available…someone has to do his job."

Kari sighed. She knew what he meant. The lack of Davis in their group was beginning to affect them. But they would get him back, one day.

As the younger Digidestined left, Izzy, Mimi and Palmon remained in the room.

"Huh…Mimi…I wanted to say I'm sorry…to both of you." Izzy muttered, but Mimi shushed him with a finger on his lips. Palmon rolled her eyes and left; she knew this was one of those 'human moments'.

"Don't. It was XANA not you." Mimi smiled warmly. "You like me too much to even consider saying 'no' to me, right?"

Izzy's blush and averting his gaze was the answer Mimi expected. She bit her lower lip. She wanted Izzy to be more than a friend, and she knew he liked her just as much she liked him. But he was a bit shy and Mimi was afraid of messing their friendship, if he said 'no'. Perhaps it was time to risk everything, like Tai used to do, in the old days.

"Izzy, you know why I'm spending more and more weekends in Japan?" she asked. Izzy shook his head; his blush was just a pair of faintly pink painted cheeks.

"When I lived constantly in New York, you were the one who e-mailed me the most. You were always tutoring me, whenever I had problems in school and always heard me sobbing about my personal troubles." she spoke. "The more you talked to me, the more I wanted to hear you. The more I saw you, the more I longed to see again. It was then I realized I missed you more than anything."

Izzy just listened, unable to say anything. His heart rate was increasing and his blush was coming back.

"And also, I realized that…" she hesitated.

"I love you." he said bluntly. Mimi eyes went wide but her smile was wider.

"You do?" she asked hesitantly, her smile disappearing a little, fearing for what his next words would be.

"You were always there, when most people saw me as a computer-obsessed geek. You listen to me, while other people would just ignore. You care about me and that's why I care about you." he said, still blushing but his voice was firm. Mimi was also flushed with his answer. No more words were necessary. Mimi placed her hands around her neck while he held her face by her cheeks. They were closing in…closing in…

"Hello, there!" a voice called out. Mimi and Izzy immediately pulled away when they heard Tentomon's voice. "My cold is no more. So, what did I miss?"

"Nothing. Absolutely, nothing." both humans said, their cheeks red as tomatoes.

_Next day, on Kadic…_

"Say, you're appetite is back." Odd commented. He and Aelita were the only ones on their table, at the cafeteria.

"Well, starving won't bring Jeremie back." Aelita smiled. She had her trey high in food. Someone who saw the tray without an owner would think it belonged to Odd. "Where's William?"

"He's trying to get rid of Sissi. She doesn't let him go, always trying to get an answer from him." Odd mumbled.

"If she keeps up, she'll find out about the factory." Aelita muttered. A smiley Yumi and Ulrich walked in, holding hands. Aelita beamed at that view and so did Odd.

"Yumi and Ulrich sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Odd sang, cheerfully. Yumi and Ulrich didn't even flinch. They just stood there, looking at him and smiling. "First comes love, then comes marriage! Then comes the baby in a baby carriage!"

The new couple stood quiet, their smiles widening. Odd grin slowly turned into a puzzled gaze.

"You know you're getting _double_ big time clobbered by that, don't you?" Ulrich hissed, his smile not fading. Odd gulped. "And I empathized _double_."

"It's good thing you're scrawny. Maybe you can make a run for it." Yumi suggested, smirking at the blond.

Aelita just smiled and congratulated the new couple. It had been a good idea to _not tell_ Yumi and Ulrich that the Scanners were back online. A dead-or-live situation was perfect to make people spill out their feelings.

_In XANA's lair…_

Davis was alone in XANA's quarters. Well, not precisely alone. In front of him, there was some sort of circling hole. From that circle on the ground, black smoke came out, moving like it was fire. A sly voice thundered, making the smoke shaped like flames tremble, each time a word was pronounced.

"**Before anything else, tell me what possessed you to stop Jeremie from attacking that fiend and destroying one of the Digidestined?**" XANA demanded. He seemed furious which was something Davis never expected XANA to be. The boy flinched when he heard the word 'fiend'. For some reason, he didn't like XANA calling that to the nameless digimon.

"I…don't know." Davis answered honestly.

"**You don't know?**" XANA's voice was dangerously slow. He then exploded "**WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW?**"

"I just don't know, master." Davis wasn't scared, only surprised. This reaction changed a bit what he thought about XANA. XANA hummed, thinking about what his slave just said.

'_**He might still have memories of his days as a Digidestined. I remember Jeremie had the same problem on his first days as my minion. No matter, Davis will succumb to my influence, soon or later.**__'_

"**Davis, in spite of being very disappointed with you, I won't eliminate you for this. But don't you ever pull anything like it, understood?**" XANA grunted, though he was visibly calmer.

"Yes, Master XANA." Davis replied.

"**But, before you go…**" XANA adopted that sly, sneaky tone which indicated that if he had a mouth, he would be smirking. A tentacle of smoke was holding something. It was just the same size as Davis' claw-hand. XANA showed it to Davis, who eyes went wide when he saw it: it was a small rag-doll of himself!

"**You know, Davis. I'm still disappointed with you, and when I get disappointed, I tend to be a little careless.**" to prove his point, XANA's other tentacle of smoke adopted a sharp shape, like a giant needle. XANA inserted the tentacle on the back Davis' voodoo doll. The real Davis gasped, when he felt the piercing pain of a big needle of his back.

"**This is just a warning, **_**Davis Jones**_** (3). I can accept failure, but abandoning your duty…**" XANA approached the head of Davis's doll to a flame he had just summoned. Davis grabbed his head, feeling his skull boiling, but unable to do anything about it.

**( 1 ) **Japanese for 'I love you.'

**( 2 ) **German for 'I love you.'

**( 3 ) **Reference to Pirates of the Caribbean, in which Davy Jones was a character which abandoned his duty because of unrequited love.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**Awww! Aren't you cute?" Sissi squealed. **_

"_**I think I'm allergic." Wormmon sneezed.**_

"_**No! No! NO!" Yolei yelped. **__**"This can't be happening!"**_

"_**Hey, what happened? The power is gone." Kari said, watching the computer.**_

"_**It is done!" Davis Clone chuckled.**_


	18. Ep 17 Kittyjouji

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 17: Kittyjouji**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

In Odaiba, Saturday night:

"I've had a lot of fun, Kenny." Yolei giggled. The couple had returned from the Cherry Blossom Festival, hand in hand. It was held in March to April, when the trees bloomed. It's a festival appreciated by lovers. Ken was now walking Yolei home. It had been practically a year since they became official. That made Ken's parents proud, believing their son was now having a happy normal teenage life. Yolei's family was also ecstasy, when they learned their little girl had a boyfriend. Her siblings didn't stop teasing her about that.

"I already told you to not call me 'Kenny' in public." Ken said, playfully.

"But nobody around here knows us." she retorted.

"Yes, but we're still in public." he retorted back, with a smile. They finally arrived at the Innoe's grocery store. "Well, this is your stop, Miss."

Yolei smiled brightly at him. Ken leaned in, but Yolei stopped him with a hand on his lips and a smug smile on her face:

"Now now, Mr. Ichijouji, you know in a relationship, the guy is never in charge."

"Is that so?" he asked with a grin.

"Yeah, it…" Yolei was cut off by Ken who took chance of her distraction and claimed her lips. In spite of what she said earlier, she didn't fight. Instead, the girl just allowed the kiss to get more intense, until…

"Good evening!" a voice spoke. It was Yolei's older sister Sakura, with a knowing smile. Yolei and Ken instantly broke apart. Both digidestined's cheeks were red. Neither of them wanted to face each other or the young woman, so they both just stared at the floor. Ken finally managed to found his voice:

"Well, bye Yolei…See you tomorrow." he half-ran half-walked away.

"So did you have fun tonight, Mrs. Ichijouji?" Ken wasn't far enough to be out of earshot. He blushed deeper when he heard that, but he knew Yolei would be blushing harder, if not yelling at her sibling. Nevertheless, the Bearer of Kindness couldn't avoid a smile imaging been with Yolei forever.

After catching a bus to Tamachi, Ken arrived at his apartment building and entered home. His mother was in her pajamas, carrying a glass of water, in the kitchen.

"Ken, sweetie! How was your night, son?" she asked, merrily.

"It was fine, mom. Just great." the boy answered politely, but honestly. His mom had joyful smile. She liked to see her son with other kids, unlike his 'old days'.

"Good night, mom."

"Sleep well, Ken."

The Digidestiend entered his room and spotted Wormmon sleeping soundly in his bed. The rookie stood awake all night waiting for Ken, but the sleep was too strong and had taken over, eventually. Ken changed into his pajamas and climbed to bed.

"Good night, Wormmon." Ken bided, though he knew the worm was in dream land, already. Ken slowly closed his eyes and surrendered to slumber. In the process, his mind wandered about the perfect life he had: a loving family, great friends, a trustful partner and an amazing girlfriend. The only thing he would change about it would be XANA, if he could. His mind finally reached dream land. However, his computer' screen lighted up and a red eye-like logo appeared…

_Next morning…_

Yolei slowly woke up, with a smile on her lips. That date had been the perfect night. Too bad it was over. Hawkmon was soundly asleep in the picnic basket that was his bed. The lavender-haired girl rose up, when she heard a knock at the window of her balcony. It was Wormmon! The girl opened the window to let the digimon enter.

"Wormmon what are you doing here?" she inquired.

"It's Ken he has…a problem. It was hard to bring him here." the rookie replied. Suddenly, Wormmon sneezed.

"Are you Ok?" she asked.

"I think I'm allergic." Wormmon sneezed.

"To what? And what do you mean bringing who here?" she asked, confused.

"Ken, come out please." Wormmon whispered to his left. A second small creature appeared into Yolei's view. At first it seemed vaguely familiar, but only then it hit her. Yolei screamed when realization came into her mind.

"Yolei! Honestly, are you trying to wake up the dead?" Hawkmon asked, waking up suddenly with Yolei's scream.

_A while later…_

TK was walking by the streets of Odaiba. Patamon was vaguely asleep in the top of his head. TK however couldn't stop thinking about two things: The Cherry Blossom Festival__and Kari.

_'Stupid shyness! Why didn't I invite Kari to the Festival?_' TK mentally berated himself._ 'If I was a bit more like Davis, I wouldn't have back down.'_

TK's eyes went wide went he realized what he had just though and shook his head with a ghost of a smile.

'_Wow. I'm wishing that I was more like Davis? His absence is really getting on me._'

"TK!" a voice that always makes TK lighten up called out. He turned around and it was Kari with Gatomon, running towards them. Unfortunately, her worried expression soon erased TK smile.

"Kari, Gatomon. What's with all the hurry?" TK inquired.

"We have to go to Yolei's! It's Ken!" she panted.

"What's the problem? What's wrong with him?"

"XANA." Gatomon muttered.

"What did XANA do to him?"

Kari leaned closer and whispered something on TK's ear. When she was done, TK just stared at her before yelping:

"WHAT?"

"TK! Honestly, are you trying to wake up the dead?" Patamon protested, TK's scream had waked him up.

"But why would…" TK began.

"No time for questions. We have to go to Yolei's!" Kari, without realizing, quickly grabbed TK's hand and took off. While the boy was flushing for the girl holding his hand, Kari was too concerned about XANA's new trick. Unbeknownst to them, a silent figure had been hiding, listening to their conversation. A boy with red-wine colored spiky hair and a pair of googles. His eyes were brown and full of malice.

'_So, XANA has used one of his creative schemes, again?'_ thought the boy who was known to many as 'Davis', but for a few children he was known as 'Davis Clone' _'I may profit a bit with this.'_

The Monomorphic Specter used his Control Spire (the Spire that gave him life), on the Digital World, to make a mental connection with XANA:

**::Hello, XANA! Remember me?::**

**::You? What do you want, Binky-boy?:: **XANA responded.

**::To make a deal.:: **Davis Clone replied.

_At the factory, on Paris…_

The Lyoko Warrior, minus Aelita, arrived at the Lab. The pinkette was sat on chair, with Yolei, Hawkmon, Kari, Gatomon, Patamon, TK and Wormmon on the screen. Cody had gone on vacation for the weekend with his family.

"So Princess, what is the great emergency?" Odd asked. She turned to her friends with a mix of expressions: awkwardness, disbelief and suppressed laugh:

"Guys, you remember when XANA made us that Sex Change Operation **(XANA's Craziest Plan Ever!)**?" all of them, but William, frowned. XANA made them spend a hell of a time with that. William however only suppressed his laugh; in those days he was XANA's slave and that was the only good thing about been possessed by XANA: he was never turned into a girl.

"Unfortunately, yeah. So?" Ulrich asked, fearing something was coming.

"Well…today when Ken woke up, he was…well, see for your selves." she stood away, so they could see the screen. The graphic window showed Yolei holding a small furry creature on her arms.

"Aelita, I only see Yolei holding a…" Yumi silenced when it hit her. She kept glaring at the small mammal carried by Yolei. Ulrich, William and Odd also get it and the four stood there petrified, until…Odd bent over, with a laughing fit.

"XANA TURNED KEN INTO A _PURPLE_ CAT! CAN YOU IMAGINE, A _PURPLE_ CAT? A _PURPLE_ CAT? THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS!" the Italian seemed to be about to explode in laughs.

"Odd, don't you turn into a cat, when you go to Lyoko?" Yumi asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Correction: I turn into a _guy_ disguised as a cat." Odd grinned.

"A guy that can't land on his feet straightly." Ulrich added. The rest of the crew laughed a bit at Odd sulking face.

"Look, will you stop joking around and tell me why this happened to my boyfriend!" she growled.

"Calm down, Yolei." Kari pleaded.

"Look, XANA has pulled something like this on us before. Jeremie installed a DNA repair system on the Scanners and the SuperComputer has the recordings of Ken's original DNA. We can change him back here and send him back to you guys, afterwards." Aelita said.

"You can do that?" Wormmon asked.

"Yes, but it will take some time. I'll be done by the end of the day. You take the kitty…" Aelita quickly amended. "I mean, Ken to the Digital World, and I'll send one of us to get him."

"I'll take him." Yolei immediately proposed.

"And I'll get him." Ulrich said, on the other side.

Yolei took out her digivice but Wormmon spoke:

"Maybe I should go with Ken." however, the purple cat on Yolei's harms shook its tiny head.

"Maybe not. Those allergies won't live you alone, Wormmon." Patamon retorted.

"But I'm Ken's partner." the insect countered.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. I promise." Aelita smiled, through the graphic window to the digimon. Wormmon nodded, though still a bit nervous. He looked at his cat turned friend and whispered.

"Be careful, Ken." the kitten only meow in response.

_Later, now on Ken's POV…_

Yolei handed me Ulrich, after giving me a sad goodbye hug. I hated to see her like that, but I hated XANA even more for doing this. Honestly, what's the purpose of turning me into a cat? Is he just trying to mess with me? Is this some sort of prank? Or is it another of his clever schemes? I preferred to think of this as a mastermind plan of his for two reasons:

One, if this was serious, that would mean this transformation he did on me wasn't a joke. I don't like been joked.

Two, if I kept my mind worried about whatever XANA is planning, maybe that would distract me while I'm in this unbearable form.

I turned to my girlfriend and wanted nothing more than to be able to speak to her. No such luck; cats don't talk. Ulrich caught me and I felt myself disappearing. I saw my legs (I'm not even considering using the word 'paws') been de-virtualized. Was this the feeling digimon have when they die? When their data is spread into the air?

I felt like landing on cold water. It was freezing inside the Scanner! The metal doors opened to reveal Ulrich. He picked me up and took to the Lab.

_Back on the Normal POV:_

"_I just don't get why XANA has done this. What's his plan?_" Kari asked.

"Beats me. But I'm sure this _transformation_ is just a distraction. You guys watch your backs." Aelita warned closing the window. "Now that Ken's new cat DNA is already scanned I can begin."

"And what are we supposed to do, in the mean time?" William asked.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

'_When are you not starving?' _Ken mentally whispered, though he knew Odd couldn't understand.

"When are you not starving?" Ulrich asked.

"Come on. Let's take Ken to see the campus." the Italian proposed.

"You know we can bring pets to Kadic." Yumi reminded.

"OK, I'll just take him to the dorm room. Kiwi needs some company." Odd suggested.

"Odd, you sure that's a good idea?" Ulrich asked.

"No worries. My sisters used to have a cat and Kiwi usually went along with her." Odd assured. Ulrich whispered into William's ear.

"Can you go with Odd, in case he does something stupid?"

"Why don't you go with him? I mean, he's going to _your _dorm." William said, as if he was trying to explain that two times two is four.

"Yeah, but I have to go with Yumi." the German answered. William nodded, though he had just impressed himself. He knew Ulrich and Yumi were going out and didn't fell a bit disturbed by that.

'_Man, have I changed that much? Some months ago I would be clenching my teeth after hearing that. Maybe I'm definitely over that crush.'_

"Hey Will, you coming or going stay and daydream?" Odd called out.

"Ok, I'm coming." William entered the elevator and the four teenagers and the cat exited the Lab, leaving Aelita working.

"You sure Kiwi won't cause trouble?" William asked the blond.

"You're talking like Ulrich. Remember, I'm the one who always trained Kiwi to behave." Odd retorted.

"That's what worries me." William muttered.

'_I hope Odd knows in what he is getting me?' _ Ken mentally muttered.

_About ten minutes later…_

"_In what has Odd got me in?"_ Ken only thoughts, who was trying with all cost stay away from Kiwi. When Odd and William entered the room, Kiwi charged at Ken in the moment he saw him. The two humans were trying to stop the two animals, but neither the dog nor the cat hold still for a 1/100 of second. Ken only saw one exit from that: the door. The purple cat headed to the outside of the room.

"No, Kiwi don't!" Odd yelped. William managed to grab Kiwi before the dog could also get out of the dorm. Ken, however was nowhere to be seen.

"You trained him, hu?" William gave Odd a killing glare.

_Meanwhile, with Ken…_

"_Run! Run! Run! Run!"_ Ken kept running like there was no tomorrow, not realizing Kiwi was no longer after him. The scared cat didn't even realized that when he bumped into someone. It was a tall girl with long black hair. She was actually pretty, smiling sweetly at Ken and seemed vaguely familiar to the cat.

"Awww! Aren't you cute?" Sissi Delmas squealed. "You're coming with me." before Ken could step back, the girl grabbed him and took him the her dorm room.

"Hum…You look like you need a home. You can stay here, if you want..._Chantilly_. Yeah, that's a great name for you, _Chantilly_." the girl giggled.

"_CHANTILLY? Are you crazy or just stupid?"_ Ken yelled in his own mind. _"I hope William and Odd are on their way."_

"You stay here and be a good boy. I'm gonna talk to my daddy. We're not allowed to have pets in school." the girl exited the room and locked the door.

"_Great. Now that she is gone, maybe I can get away."_ Ken thought, eyeing the window.

"_If it's not too high, maybe I can jump outside. Now let's see if I don't just look like a cat._"

Ken jumped and was glad to find out his new body allowed him to jump easily to the top of the desk, close byto the window. However Ken was frustrated to find out it was too high. He was in the 2nd floor and didn't want to risk his nine lives. Disappointed, Ken turned around, but something caught his attention. It was a picture of Ulrich! Intrigued, Ken approached it. The picture was glued to the cover of a small book. Ken was never the nosytype, but for some reason, he was _really_ curious, this time. Curiosity kills the cat, hum? Ken opened the book at some random page. It was a diary and it said:

'_Those geeks escaped again. I really don't get it why Ulrich prefers to hang out with them instead of me. I'm the prettiest girl in this school; half of guys on Kadic drool over me, but not the guy I want. But he will be mine, one day. That Ishiyama will see who Ulrich really loves. One day, Ulrich will be mine and mine alone or my name is not Sissi Delmas!'_

Ken immediately closed the book. Now he remembered; this was the pain Ulrich was always complaining about!

"_Just one more motive to get out of here, before she returns!"_

The door opened, revealing a grinning Sissi Delmas.

"_So much for that."_ Ken muttered in his feline mind.

"Hello, Mr. Chantilly! Good news: Daddy said you can stay with us. Isn't that great?" Sissi squealed, cuddling Ken. The Bearer of Kindness was always a calm person, but this girl was starting to creep him out a little. Plus, Yolei would kill him if she ever were to know that he was actually enjoying been cuddled.

"But one problem." Sissi continued, her smile dyeing a little. "Daddy says that if I keep you, I must take you to the veterinarian. Tomorrow you will be castrated."

"_WHAT?"_

_Meanwhile…_

"You think he's in the factory?" Odd questioned William. Ever since Ken ran away, about an hour ago, the boys went looking for him. They were now in the Girls Dorm Level. Suddenly an ear piercing scream and a violent hiss were heard.

"That sounded like Sissi!" Odd said. Then door of Sissi's dorm room burst opened and a small purple cat came running out.

"It's Ken!" William yelped. When Ken was out of sight, Sissi came out of her dorm with a small scratch on her cheek.

"You! Have you seen Mr. Chantilly?"

"Mr. Chantilly?" both boys asked, quirking two eyebrows.

"My cat! A tiny purple cat. He just came running out of my dorm. Where did he go?"

"He went that way." Odd indicated pointing in the wrong direction. Sissi ran to where Odd pointed. When she was out of earshot, both boys doubled over with a laughing fit.

"Mr. _Chantilly_? Who names a _purple_ animal 'Chantilly'?" Odd burst out laughing. "I'll never let Ken live it down."

"Let's just hope he lives this." William snickered.

_With Ken…_

"_Must run away…must run away…must run away!"_ Ken's mind raced faster than he was. He was so concentrated in running away that he didn't even notice a fat, brunette man on the end of the stairs.

"Hold it right there." the man in the training suite roared. "Animals are not allowed on campus."

The man picked Ken with one massive hand. Really didn't want to attack anybody. He only attacked Sissi because he had no choice. If only…

"Chantilly?" a girl's voice called out. Ken's fur stood to the end.

"_It's that Delmas again!"_ Ken decided that once again he had no choice. The cat quickly bite Jim Morales' hand, making the man let him go. Ken ran in the opposite direction, entering a room with Jim on his tail.

"Why you little pest!" he yelled. They were both in the Rec Room. Ken jumped into the TV, Jim almost grabbed him had Ken not jumped into a plastic surface, over a table. Big mistake! The plastic table was the fragile cover of a fishbowl. A cover that couldn't even hold the weight of a small cat. The cover break and Ken found himself in the water with the small colored fishes.

"I didn't know we had fishes in the Rec Room." Jim muttered, before making a B-line to the fishbowl and grabbing Ken. Another big mistake! This is why cats don't like water: it makes them crazy. Ken hissed like a snake, his fur stood to the end, his sharp claws completely out, making him a menacing figure. Ken scratched the PE teacher's face continuously. Jim let him go, attending to his hurting face. Ken jumped out of the window. Yet another big mistake. Outside, in the ground, there was a flowerbed waiting for his paws. A flowerbed of cacti!

"_AAAHHHH! Can't I get a break?_" Ken mentally grunted, when he landed of the spikes of the desert plants.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a voice whispered behind him. Ken turned around to meet William. The boy aught the cat and began to move to the manhole in the woods.

"Looks like you had a _dog_ day, wouldn't you say _Chantilly_?" the Scottish boy mocked.

_Back in Japan, at the Innoe's grocery store…_

A young boy entered the Innoe's store which a woman recognized as one of Yolei's 'friends'.

"Hello! Aren't you David Mottomiya?" Mrs. Innoe asked.

"Hello! And it's Davis." he corrected trying to smile politely. "Is Yollei home?"

"Yes, she's up stairs." Mrs. Innoe began to walk out of the store. "Could you please tell Yolei to come down here and take care of the store?"

"No problem, Ma'am." Davis Clone said, using an expression that anyone who knew him could tell it was fake. The woman left the store and the Monomorphic Specter smirked.

"Don't worry. Your daughter will have a hell of a surprise." Davis Clone snickered.

_In the Lab…_

"It's done." Aelita finally announced. After Ken little escapade, William took him back to the lab. The purple cat beamed at that.

"_Finally!_"

"Too bad, Chantilly was starting to look cute to me." Yumi smiled. Ken hissed aggravated.

"Come on, come on. Let's calm down. Get Chanti…I mean, Ken to the Scanners. I'll use the DNA Restoration Program to cure him and send him back to the Digital World." Aelita instructed.

"Aye, aye, captain." Odd saluted, carrying Ken the lift. Aelita contacted the digidestined, in Yolei's room.

"Guys, we're ready. I'll get Ken cured and send him to the Digital World, right away."

"_OK, we will get him there._" Yolei said, gleeful.

"_He's all set up, Princess._" Odd said through the intercom.

"OK. Transfer Ken…Begin DNA Restoration Sequence…" Aelita typed and hoped for the best. 30%...60%...90%...100%.

The doors of the Scanners opened and Odd waited as the smoke cleared. Ken rose up on two legs. Two human legs that supported a whole human body! _His_ body!

"It worked!" Ken yelled, smiling brightly.

"It worked!" Aelita announced to their friends in the other side of the World.

"_It worked!_" Yolei and Wormmon cried out in joy.

"_Guys, we're all happy that ken is back to normal, but you could stop with that victory dance."_ Kari said.

"OK, I'll send him to the Digital World now." Aelita began the usual procedure. "Scanner Ken…Virtualization!"

Suddenly, an error mark appeared in the screen. Aelita eyes went wide.

"What's wrong, Aelita?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh, no! I should have seen this coming!"

"What?" William asked.

"_What's going on?"_ TK asked.

"Haven't you wondered why XANA hasn't attack while Ken was a cat? It was all a trap! Ken's cat DNA was a virus under disguise. XANA knew I would use the SuperComputer to cure Ken. Now the virus is controlling is sending Ken to the Digital World, but blocking any other access. We can't go there, until I get rid of the bug."

"How come that's a problem?" William asked.

"I don't know. Ken, can you hear me?"

"_Yes."_ the boy answered, form the Digital World.

"Listen, XANA managed to block the Virtualization process of the SuperComputer. We can't go there."

"_But why would he do that?"_ Yolei asked.

"Ken! Behind you!" too late. A new window pop up, showing Ken's silhouette and an increasing counting. "The Scyphozoa!"

"Yolei, you guys have to go there and help him!" Aelita urged.

_With the Digidestined…_

"Let's go!" Yolei pulled out her D-3. Unfortunately, the Universe was against them. Or rather, Davis Clone was. Yolei computer just turned off just like that. In fact, the same happened to all the light in Yolei's house.

"Hey, what happened? The power is gone." Kari said, watching the computer. Unbeknownst to them, Davis Clone was smirking, looking at electric board of the house that he had just destroyed.

"It is done!" Davis Clone chuckled.

"No! No! NO!" Yolei yelped. "This can't be happening!"

"Yolei, don't you have lap top, or something?" Wormmon asked, panicking.

"Yes, I do!" she nearly screamed. Every second seemed like torture. She powered on the lap top and yelped:

"DIGI-PORT OPEN!"

"Hold on, Ken. We're coming. Just hold on!" TK said.

The next thing the heroes saw would scar them for life. They arrived at the Digital World, where Ken was sent. Ken faced the group with a neutral expression. His hair was spiked up, like when he was the Emperor. His attire was black and grey, with a white symbol on his chest. The symbol was a combo of the Eye of XANA and the Crest of Kindness. His eyes recalled the eyes he had on his emperor days. However they weren't the cold-type of hatred and cruelty. They were the cold-type of disregard for everybody else.

"_He has William's old XANA Avatar. But with a few differences."_ Aelita said "_Watch out, he may have the same powers as William had._"

It was true. Apart the new symbol on his chest, forehead and giant sword, the magenta lines of the outfit were purple, now. Plus, his left wrist had a gauntlet with a blade and not with spikes.

**(A.N.: I have Ken's XANA Avatar on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

"K…Ken?" Wormmon whimpered. Ken only response was to rise his sword and attack.

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!_

_Gatomon Super-digivolve to…Angewomon!_

_Hawkmon digivolve to…Aquilomon!_

"Blast Rings!" Aquilomon cried out. The attack hit the incoming Ken dead on, but he didn't even flinch.

"You'll have to do better than that! I can't be harmed by Digimon or Lyoko Warriors." the new XANA Warrior muttered. "Energy Disk!"

Ken's attack seemed stronger than William's Energy Disk version. Aquilomon was hit and de-digivolved into Hawkmon.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried out.

"Super Smoke!" Ken turned into a trial of purple smoke and dodged the attack easily. Returning to human form, he said. "Why don't you try that…"

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon's attack hit Ken on his backside, making him scream.

"AAAAHHHH!" the former Digidestined cried out.

"Guys, he's just like Davis. Only Angemon and Angewomon can hit him." TK said. Ken stood up, massaging his injured back.

"Yeah, but not today. Super Smoke!" Ken transformed into smoke and disappeared, entering the domain of his new Lord: XANA.

"He's gone." Kari whispered.

"For now." TK said melancholy.

"This is…" Yolei whispered, tears falling from her eyes like waterfalls. Then her voice became harsh and cold. "…all your fault, Aelita!"

"What?" the digidestiend and Digimon (except Wormmon) gasped.

"Yeah, if you had seen this coming, Ken wouldn't have been enslaved!" Yolei growled accusatory.

"_How can you say that? You think she can think of everything?"_ Ulrich's booming voice roared like a thunder in the sky.

"Yolei, you can't be serious!" Kari cried.

"_No. She's right._" Aelita retorted with a crying voice. "I'm the one to blame."

"Yeah, and Wormmon is also to blame!" the crimson haired girl pointed at the green rookie who hadn't move nor said a word after he saw his partner. "If Wormmon had gone with Ken, he could have protected him. But no, the worm couldn't because he had allergies! What kind of friend are you? You're…"

Yolei silenced herself immediately when she felt a pain on her face. Kari had just slapped her. The girl with the tainted cheek looked stupefied at her DNA Digivolution companion. The silence was nerving. Yolei turned around and re-began to weep, wishing that was all a nightmare.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"**Adios, muchachos.**_**" Ken exclaimed.**_

"_**AH! AH! AH! AH! Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Davis chuckled.**_

"_**What the…? How? HOW?" Davis cried out.**_

"_**Courage means being brave. It's facing what you fear, even when the situation is not in your favor. It's risking your live to protect what matters most, without expecting any glory or payment in return.**__**" Tai said.**_


	19. Ep 18 Yūki

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 18: Yūki**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**(A.N.: **_**Yūki **_**is Japanese for Courage)**

"Your temperature is seven degrees below normal, your blood pressure is slightly lower." the nurse Yolanda reported. She was analyzing Aelita, after the girl passed out in the middle of classes. "And you seem very thin. Have you been eating lately?"

"Well, yes…" Aelita lied. "But, well…I have always work."

"Your health is more important than your studies. I'll give a note to your teachers about your homework. I've heard your grades are really good. You need to rest, Aelita."

When it was over, the classes had been dismissed. Yumi and Ulrich were expecting her outside of the infirmary.

"You ok, Aelita?" Yumi asked. The pinkette seemed dizzy. Yumi and Ulrich caught her, in case she fainted.

"Yeah…I'll just go to the fac…"

"No way!" Ulrich spat. "You're going to your dorm and that's final."

"But…"

"Aelita, don't make us knock you out." Yumi warned.

"Oh…fine." she sighed, defeated. As much as she hated to admit, her body was begging for resting and then a great meal. They escorted her to her dorm and sat Aelita in the bed.

"Now you be sure to sleep. Or we won't let you leave this dorm…And just to make sure." Yumi took Aelita's lap top with her. Seeing no other option, she laid down and let slumber claimed her mind. Ulrich closed the door:

"About time she gets a break."

"I can't believe she's literally working herself to death because of _them._" Yumi clearly meant 3 certain individuals by _them_.

"And it's all because of that stupid Yolei." Ulrich spat with venom.

"Ulrich." Yumi scowled.

"You have to admit it's true. If Yolei hadn't blamed what happened to Ken on Aelita, she wouldn't be like this." Ulrich persisted, frowning. "How can you defend her?"

"Ulrich, I agree that what Yolei said was wrong." Yumi continued in a calmer voice. "But don't remember that she had just lost who she loved most. What if XANA had gotten to me? Wouldn't you be angry?"

"Yeah, I would. But that doesn't matter. I'll never let XANA get you." Ulrich caressed her cheek, his gaze changing from irritation to kindness. Yumi smiled, but it changed to an annoyed frown when she heard someone around the corner:

"Hello, love birds!" Odd complimented with a smirk.

_Meanwhile, on Odaiba…_

"Bow down, _muchachos_!" 'Ken Ichijouji' said, grinning. He and the Digidestined were entering the classroom. Some of the classmates looked at 'boy genius' oddly, before returning to what they were doing. TK and Kari sighed, while Yolei didn't even look up. Her face was blank, her extrovertedeyes were empty, like someone who had heard Christmas had been cancelled. Kari approached 'Ken':

"Listen … Ken _Clone_. You are supposed to act like the _real_ Ken." the Digidestined of Light whispered. "And the real Ken is not Mexican, you know."

"OK, _guapa_." the Monomorphic Specter said, pinching at her left cheek which made Kari blush and TK frown. Ken Clone moved and found his desk, which he was sharing with Davis Clone. Ken Clone already knew that the Googlehead was a Specter like him.

"_Hola, amigo! _Looks like_ tú y yo _will be_ compañeros._" Ken smiled to his new friend. Davis Clone, who had been grinning with his own thought until then looked at the new Clone and muttered:

"Call me _compañero_ again and that's the last thing you'll say in you short worthless life."

Ken Clone was taken aback by those cold words, but frowned instead of backing away. This Davis appeared to be nothing but bad news:

"_Como quieras_, fool."

_Meanwhile, with older Digidestined…_

Tai solemnly walked in the school yard. He had talk to Matt that morning, asking about TK. The blond answer was a humorless 'Not good.' Kari was in the same condition. The news of Ken's capture had already spread through the whole group. Needless to say, the spirit of the heroes was low. Tai couldn't remember of ever having such a hard time. True, as Digidestined, they all had passed a lot of dark times. But never before they had loose members and friends like this. It's been two Digidestined down, now, both from the younger group.

That was also troubling Tai. So far, XANA only seek to control Digidestined of Davis' gang. None of the older group had been threatened by the Scyphozoa. Until now, XANA only controlled them once (twice in the case of Matt, Izzy and himself), via tower, like those normal people he used to possess to attack Ulrich and his gang.

'_Could it be because XANA doesn't see us as much of threat? For him, we're just victims and not enemies? Sidekicks of Kari and her friends? Since our first adventure, our role in saving both worlds is smaller. Does this means we're no longer needed?_'

Tai drifted in his thoughts, unaware that XANA was keeping an eye on him.

_With XANA and his henchmen…_

"**Well, well. It seems Mr. Googlehead Senior is in low-confidence.**" XANA commented. Jeremie, Davis and Ken were all gathered in XANA's quarters, observing their enemies.

"What do you mean, Master XANA?" Jeremie asked. "He hasn't said a thing."

"**Yes, but I can read his thoughts. The thoughts of biological creatures are electric pulses. Pulses that I can easily read, through my electronic manipulation abilities.**"

"How come who never used that before, when it was needed?" Jeremie asked.

"**…Because, shut up!**"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! Googleheads go down so easily." Ken muttered. Davis gave him an irritated glare.

"Care to repeat that?" the demon-like XANA Warrior whispered, aggravated.

"I said googleheads go down easily." Ken repeated, monotonously. Davis clenched his fists.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a googlehead."

"I don't care." Ken replied. XANA watched the scene slightly amused.

"Oh, come on, Kenny. Don't be so harsh on _Davy_. He's too soft to handle insults like those. It's easy to hurt him, you know." Jeremie said, in mocking voice. That made Davis' blood boil.

"Hurt me, huh?" Davis smirked, glaring at Jeremie. "Says the guy who can be hit by anyone and I creamed with no sweat, Icestein."

Davis recalled the time when he defied XANA's orders, ending up fighting and defeating Jeremie. The googlehead didn't exactly enjoy the punishment, but he sure enjoyed watching the blond' face twisting in anger. Plus, using that nickname Della-Robia invented to Jeremie was a fury-booster to the French blond.

"I told you I don't like that stupid nickname!" the skier was about to unleash his spikes, when XANA snarled.

"**Enough! As much as I appreciate a good show, I don't need my soldiers to waste energy fighting each other. Thank you very much!**" XANA's voice sounded higher than any of theirs. The conflicting humans calmed down. However, XANA saw no motive to end the discussion, however. "**But Jeremie is right on one thing: there's no reason to badmouth our '**_**horny'**_** friend Davis.**"

**(A.N.: By 'horny', XANA means the fact that Davis has horns. It's not any sexual reference.)**

Jeremie and Ken both doubled over, laughing their lungs out. Davis blushed with embarrassment, touching his four horns with his hand-claw. Even Master XANA was against him, today.

"Well, at least, I'm stronger than Jeremie." he countered.

"Well, at least, I'm not a freak." Jeremie replied.

"What did you just say?" Davis asked the question with a deadly silence.

"Look at you. What are you anyway? Some sort of mutant demon?" Jeremie questioned.

"Maybe a freak? An abomination?" Ken suggested. Then both burst out laughing again, with XANA remaining silent.

"I'm outta here." he grunted, going to the elevator in the corner of the room and punching the button. He began descending, no longer hearing the laughs of Ken and Jeremie. He arrived at the exit of Sector Gisaku.

Sector Gisaku was surrounded by three sectors: the Dark Forest, the Dark Desert and the Dark Ice Sector. There was a sector for each XANA Warrior, where that Warrior dwelt. Jeremie lived in the Dark Ice Sector; Davis dwelt in the Dark Forest. Ken dominated the newly created Dark Desert.

The 2nd XANA Warrior arrived at his domain. The trees were completely dark and very thin, resembling more giant spikes coming out of the grey lifeless ground than actual plants. The branches were spiked up, like Davis' horns. All in all, the trees were similar to Davis. A small river of black water was the only thing that made a sound in the silent, inhabited forest.

Davis jumped, landing in a massive branch of a tall tree. He sat back but couldn't relax. The words and voices of XANA, Jeremie and Ken were still laughing in his mind. What was worse was that he thought they might be right. And that made him even angrier.

'_Stupid Icestein is an ice-making-geek. Ken gets turned into a chump with a sword bigger than his brains.'_ Davis causally looked at his reflection in the black water. His eyes moved to the image of his horns. '_But I? I'm a freak. I get turned into a monster. I'm the one nobody ever trusts or cares about.'_ Davis mind was filled with venom. "_If it wasn't for that dork Tai…Speaking of the Devil._"

Davis created a screen made of red fire, showing Tai now muttering a few words. He was in the Computer Room, once again. Lost in his thoughts, Tai said enough for Davis to understand what the older googlehead was mulling about. That made the XANA Warrior smirk.

_Back with Tai…_

Tai leaned against one of the desks with a computer. The computer room was completely empty and the silence was peaceful enough to let him think.

'_Maybe we're just a burden, now. Most of the old group wasn't even present when Davis was captured.' _Tai thoughts had a hint of guilt. The distracted boy didn't notice the computer behind him lighting up and a force pulling his body towards the screen. Startle, Tai looked over his shoulder, only to see a white blinding light and then nothing.

In the Dark Forest Sector, Davis was holding up his hand-claw, forming a small whirlpool on the river. His smirk grew wider when he leant he got what he was looking for: Tai.

The said Googlehead came out of the mini-whirlpool and landed hardly on the ground, with his back turned to Davis. Before Davis could make his presence known to the newcomer, Tai picked himself up and examined his surroundings.

"Where am I? In the Digital World? Or am I dead?"

"No, you're in the Digital World." Davis spoke. Tai finally turned around, meeting Davis killing glare. "And you're not dead. Yet."

_Somewhere else…_

KA-BOOOOOMMMM

"And that's what happens when you join water with acid, instead of acid with water." the chemistry teacher berated the two students who mix water with acid. The table exploded, ruining the two boys' hair style. The other students laughed out loud. Even the Digidestined laughed a bit. Kari was giggling, until a bad vibe ran up her spine.

"Tai!" she screamed, before fainting.

"Kari!" TK quickly grabbed his friend before she hit the floor.

"Kari!"

"Is she OK?" more and more people approached her, including Yolei.

"Mr. Takaishi, take her to the infirmary." the teacher ordered. TK carried Kari by the corridors, until he felt the girl moving. Kari stirred and woke up.

"Kari? You're awake." TK said, cheerful. Kari however wasn't that happy.

"Tai, he's in danger." she whispered, weakly.

_Back with our endangered hero…_

"Davis!" Tai picked himself up, preparing for Davis eventual attack. However, the XANAfied Digidestined didn't move.

"Welcome to the Dark Forest Sector."

"The Dark Forest? Where is this place? Isn't it the Digital World?" Tai thought about stalling for time, until he figured a way to get out of there.

"Yeah…and nope. We're in the Digital World…and we're not in the Digital World, too. But enough chit-chat." Davis grinned, clenching his claw-hand. "You remember when XANA created his new Armor-Monsters? Well, check this out."

From Davis normal hand, a red and yellow light shone. It looked like fire and it was warm. So warm that Tai could feel it. When the light dissipated, Davis was holding a saber. The hilt was shaped like red flames and the blade was yellow decorated with the Crest of Courage. It didn't take a Jeremie to know that sword was made out of the Digi-Egg of Courage.

"Meet Yūki, the Saber of Courage, aka the sword that will cut off your head." Davis announced. Tai took a step back; one thing was been killed by a bad guy. But the bad guy holding the symbol of the Crest he held so dear… that was another thing.

"Funny, don't you think? You're gonna be wasted by your own symbol. Face it, you're no longer a Digidestined. You're just a sidekick, now." The XANA Warrior slashed with the sword at him, but Tai thankfully had trained soccer way before Davis knew what soccer was. The brunette dodged the strike and ran away.

_Back with Kari and friends…_

"Kari, I've checked twice. He's not in the Digital World." Izzy said. After her relapse, Kari went (or rather ran) to the Computer Room where Izzy had just entered a few seconds ago.

"But he must be in there. Where else could he be?" Kari almost screamed.

"Kari, what makes you even think Tai is in danger?" Gatomon asked.

"I just know. Tai needs our help." Kari insisted. The sound of knocking was heard. Agumon was knocking at the glass of the window. Surprised, Izzy opened it.

"Agumon, what are you doing here?" Cody asked.

"Have you seen Tai? I've got this feeling he's in trouble." the yellow rookie asked with worried eyes. TK quickly glanced at Kari and said:

"Let's go to the Digital World." the blond said, making up his mind.

"But I just…" Izzy began.

"We're going." TK insisted, taking out his D-3.

"You sure, TK?" Patamon inquired.

"Yeah. We've already lost Davis and Ken. We can't afford to lose anybody else." The others nodded, except Yolei, who stood silent during the whole scene. Hawkmon turned to her.

"Yolei, please stop moping like that. It won't help at all." her digimon pleaded. The girl continued with her half-sad, half-emotionless glare. TK approached her.

"Yolei, I know it hurts but you've gotta let everything go. What would Ken say if he saw you acting like this, because of him?"

Yolei looked at him:

"Don't you ever say _his_ name, you hear me?" she hissed, punching TK in the shoulder.

"Yolei!" Hawkmon, Kari, Cody and Izzy squealed.

"Hey, what is your problem?" Patamon scowled.

"That's enough, you guys!" TK said, before a fight took place. "Yolei, if don't wanna come, that's fine. Let's go, guys."

"OK…I'll send a message to Aelita and the others, asking for help."

And so the group, minus Yolei and Hawkmon, was sucked into the computer, entered the Digital World. Izzy sat at the computer, giving Yolei a sideways look. It was just like when MetalGreymon was under the Emperor's control. Only this time, it wasn't that easy to set their friend free.

'_How did we ended up like this?'_ the red-head asked himself in despair.

_In XANA's domain…_

"**Speaking of which, I'm not planning to create any Armor Monsters with your Digi-Egg, Ken.**"

"I don't care." Ken replied, uninterested. Jeremie however couldn't avoid curiosity.

"Why is that, sir?" the blond asked.

"**Obviously because the Digi-Egg of Kindness is pink. That color is way to girly.**" XANA answered matter-of-factly. Jeremie smirked, spotting a chance to taunt Ken.

"Now that you mention it, Ken always seemed kinda _girly_ with that _girly_ hairstyle. No wonder Della-Robia mistaken him with a girl, when they first met." Jeremie laughed, but unlike Davis, Ken didn't react, which made Jeremie stop.

"Hey, aren't you going to retaliate?" he asked the giant sword wielder.

"No."

"Why? I just insulted you."

"I don't care." Ken replied simply. Jeremie just shook his head, disappointed.

"You're no fun."

"**Silence!**" XANA demanded, feeling something in the Digital World. "**Our enemies are back! Ken, go take care of them. Meanwhile, lets watch what is Davis doing with his guest.**"

Ken exited the room, while XANA activated a screen that showed the scene in the Dark Forest Sector.

_With our heroes…_

"Hey, guys! Where are Aelita and Yumi?" Cody asked. The Lyoko Warriors and Digidestined met. Only the three boys were present in the Lyoko Team.

"_I'm up here and Aelita is sick._" Yumi responded from the Lab.

"You can thank your friend Yolei." Ulrich muttered.

"Ulrich." William said.

"After all, since it was _Aelita's fault_ that Ken was XANAfied." the samurai muttered, ignoring William. Kari and Cody were taken aback by that, but TK looked Ulrich in the eyes and said:

"We're sorry about that. I'm sure Yolei is too. But now Tai is in danger and we need your help."

"You'll need more than help." a voice said. A voice all-too-familiar to them.

"Ken?" the two groups said.

"Who else?" a cloud of black smoke appeared and solidified into the figure of the newest XANA Warrior. The Lyoko Warriors examined his outfit.

"No surprises about this guy. We've deal with smoke-William before. This'll be a piece of cake. Laser Arrow!"

"Wait! It's no use." Cody warned. The arrows hit Ken in the chest, but he didn't fell a thing.

"Watch and learn, blondie. Energy Disk!" Ken rotated his massive blade, creation a large spinning disk of white Energy, just like William's. The Lyoko Warriors avoided the blow.

"Gatomon!" Kari said.

"Let's go Patamon!" TK uttered.

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!_

_Angemon super-digivolve to…MagnaAngemon!_

_Gatomon super-digivolve to…Angewomon!_

"Soul Banish!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

Ken dodged both blows, by turning into Smoke.

"Two can play at that game. Energy Disk!" William unleashed his own attack, only to remind him that his powers were useless against Digidestined XANA Warriors.

"I disagree. I play a total different game than yours. Energy Disk!" this time, Ken's disk grew as it approached its target.

"Duck!" the humans and low level digimon got down to avoid been sliced in two. The two angels flew higher.

"Oh, man! Why do bad guys always get better powers?" William complaint.

"Because we're the winners. Super Smoke!" Ken turned into a trail of Smoke and flew to MagnaAngemon. The smoke wrapped around the male angel's neck like a snake and changed back into human. Ken grabbed MagnaAngemon's helmet and began to squeeze it, threatening to crack it.

"MagnaAngemon!" TK cried out.

"I'm gonna crack your skull like an egg." Ken whispered.

"Let go of me!" the Ultimate grunted. "Excalibur!"

MagnaAngemon stroke Ken with his lightning blade. Ken cried out and started to fall.

"Super Smoke!" Ken turned into smoke again, landing slowly and safely on the ground.

"You guys go look for Tai. We'll handle him." Kari said.

"You guys be OK." Odd said before the group rolled out on their vehicles, Cody and Armadillomon ridding with Ulrich on the OverBike.

_Meanwhile, in the real World…_

"Oh, great. Ken's back." Izzy muttered. The screen showed a black red rectangle with the Eye of XANA on it. Yolei reacted to the word 'Ken' and looked at the screen.

"Ken?" she sighed teary.

"He's fighting Angemon and Angewomon. So far, the fight seems even."

"What? But, Ken is our friend!" Yolei protested.

"Yolei." Hawkmon called. "If Ken is your friend, than you should help him. And by helping him, I mean fighting him. If we don't stop him, how are we going to live to find a way to save him and the others from XANA."

Yolei glared at the bird digimon.

"You know he's right, Yolei. This is just like what happened with MetalGreymon." Izzy supported.

"You know nothing about this." she hissed turning to the red-head. "What if it was Mimi? What…"

She was cut off by Izzy's stern voice. A voice she never knew her mentor of computers had. Despite been calm and not to loud, his voice was cold and scowling:

"You think I don't know that? If it was Mimi, I would fight her if I had to. Sure, I would hate myself, but at least, I knew I was trying to save her. I care about Ken too. If you think staying here, whining and sulking is going to help Ken, go ahead. But if you _really_ want to help, you have to fight. The choice is yours."

_Now, it our googleheads…_

Tai knew that if he stopped, that would be the last thing he would have done. Davis was chasing after him, like a wolf after a fleeing rabbit. Tai was getting tired of all the run while Davis seemed fresh. The only reason why the older googlehead was still alive was because of agility and speed. Though that wasn't enough to avoid all blows; his jacket was ruined and his other clothes were tattered.

"Dark Field!" Davis fired a red energy orb. Tai dodge the hit, but the Dark Field hit one tree, knocking it down. The tree knocked into another tree, creating a domino effect. Tai was running like mad, avoiding been smashed by the falling dark plants. But luck wasn't on his side; he tripped.

"Damn it!" he cursed. Before he could stand up, a tree was about to crush him. "I'm dead."

Then again, maybe luck really was on his side. The falling tree was supported by an already downed tree, before it could turn Tai into a pancake. More and more tree fell around there, enclosing the human in a prison on black wood.

"Oh, Tai. Come out, come out, wherever you are." Davis voice spoke. Tai opted for remaining quite and still. "It doesn't matter where you are, I'll find you."

With that, Davis broke into a run, looking for Tai. The captive human saw him going away, through a fissure in the pile of trees over him. Tired and feeling safe for now, Tai doze off.

_Dream:_

_Tai was surrounded by fog. Amazingly, he didn't fell the moist of the air. Examining his surroundings, he soon discovered he was on that bridge, where he had learned how to ride a bike. The scenario changed again and turned into the desert when Greymon first digivolved into MetalGreymon._

_Another flashback, this time it was him and the others fighting BlackMetalGreymon for the first and then the second time._

_Another scene. This time was the battle against MaloMyotismon. How they used the power of light to extinguish the dark soul of that digimon._

_Now, it was him and Matt, possessed by XANA, for the first time. Tai remembered everything. Despite knowing and seeing what he was doing, he could do nothing against XANA's control, no matter how hard he fought. Then, he was XANAfied again, when Jeremie wrecked their party and they met the Kolossus._

Tai stirred and regained consciousness. That flashback-dream-thing could have been confusing for anyone else, but for Taichi Kamiya, it was like one of Matt's punches that make him snap out. It was all clear to him. Moving carefully, Tai slowly managed to get out of his imprisonment, by creeping in the spaces, between trees. He examined his surroundings and saw a thick branch in the ground. He recalled that Davis' new toy could cut that black 'wood'. He picked up the branch and set out.

_With the bad guys and angels…_

"Super Smoke!" Ken's attack stroke Angewomon, in mid air. But she used her angelical light to extinguish the black smoke that was making her heavy.

"Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon unleashed his most powerful attack. Ken didn't fight back; he allowed the door to begin sucking him in.

"Great job, MagnaAngemon!" TK cheered, taking Ken's inactivity was forfeiting.

"We did it." Kari smiled.

When the XANA Warrior was close enough, he revealed his true intentions. He let go another Energy Disk, which sliced the Gate in two.

"Or maybe not." Kari sighed. Ken was about to attack again:

"Eagle Eye!" Ken was hit in the backside by two laser beam. The attack did not harm him, but it distracted him time enough for the angels to attack.

"Yolei!" Kari called out. The crimson haired girl was flying in Halsemon's back. She was carrying the usual hyperactive glow she had, but her gaze showed determination and the will of a googlehead.

"Sorry we're late." Halsemon asked, regressing into Hawkmon and then Digivolving into Aquilamon. Meanwhile, Angewomon reverted to Gatomon, while MagnaAngemon kept Ken busy.

"You're ready, Kari?" she asked.

"Ready when you are." the brunette replied.

_Aquilamon…Gatomon...DNA Digivolve to…Silphymon!_

"Blitznak!" Ken gulped at this. Now there were two Ultimates, one of which was made out of two digimon. Despite not been an Angel-Type Digimon, Ken had a pretty good hunch that Silphymon's attack could also make him scream, since she had Gatomon's data.

"Static Force!" Silphymon hurled her energy orb at the XANA Warrior, who couldn't completely avoid the blow, hurting him.

"Uuurgh! Double blitznak!" Ken hissed, massaging his brunt shoulder. The tide was definitely not in his favor.

"Mind if I join the party?" a familiar taunting voice asked. Jeremie Belpois decided to crash in.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had run into one of XANA's warm welcoming committee. Cody had been caught by the Scyphozoa.

"Impact!" Ulrich destroyed the last Yūki-Block, leaving the Scyphozoa wide open.

"Gold Rush!" Digmon attacked, hitting the Scyphozoa's bulbous' head. The jellyfish monsters flee away, releasing Cody from his grasp.

"Cody, are you ok?" Digmon approached him worried.

"I'm alright." Cody stood up.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon fired, destroying an Yūjo-Kankrelat. He briefly looked at the sky, worried:

"Where are you, Tai?"

_Back in the Dark Forest Sector…_

"Davis!" the XANA Warrior heard someone calling out his name.

'_It sounded like Tai, but it can't be. Who could be stupid enough to call me, knowing that I'm gonna kill them?_'

Davis followed the sound and his jaw dropped. Tai was in a margin of the black river. He was holding a branch of a dark tree. Remarkably, he was the one who called him! Davis did the only thing that came into his mind. He bursted out laughing. Tai stood unfazed by that. When Davis recovered, he had a mocking grin very similar to Jeremie's.

"So, you want to end the whole thing, hu? Either you have a death wish or maybe you think that been killed by your own symbol isn't such a bad thing. Oh, well…" Davis raisedYūki. "Let me grant your last wish."

Davis ran to his former idol, preparing to tear him apart. When he was less than a meter away from Tai, he suddenly stopped. Tai had blocked the attack with the branch he picked up. The older googlehead was glad to see that his 'weapon' didn't break against the steal of Yūki. The two enemies departed. Davis seemed upset about that.

"Don't forget that I taught you everything you know about soccer, _Dave_?" Tai grinned.

"Yeah, but we're not playing soccer." Davis grinned back.

"Aren't we? Think fast!" Tai out of blue kicked a small rock in the ground against Davis's face. The XANA Warrior shielded his eyes with his saber. With Davis distracted for a moment, Tai took the chance. He ran up to Davis and hit him hard with the branch on his face. That strike broke one of Davis' horns and caused him a nose bleed. The younger googlehead was taken aback with that attack, which distracted him even more. Tai wasted no time and kicked him in the gut, tossing Davis back.

"He strikes…and he scores." Tai cheered. That only served to aggravate Davis further. Steaming like an angry dragon, Davis grunted attacking Tai repeatedly.

'_Who knew Davis would lose it so easily?'_ Tai wondered, avoiding the blows of the berserk XANA Warrior. The more Tai dodged his hits, the angrier Davis got. Roaring like a wild beast, he raised his claw-hand and two small dark grew, around Tai. The branches caught Tai by his wrists and pulled him down.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Tai grunted. Davis ignored him and walked towards the trapped googlehead. Davis smirked maniacally and raised Yūki above his head, with the tip pointed at Tai's chest. The XANA Warrior expected to see Tai face trembling in fear, or pleading for mercy. Instead it was challenging looking at him, daring to do it.

"Good bye, sidekick!" Davis said. The blade began to make its decent. For the doomed Digidestined it seemed like an eternity. He thought for a moment of all the people he cared about. Agumon, Kari, mom, dad, his friends… He recalled that one day long ago he promised Kari to teach her soccer.

'_Looks like I'll never get to keep that promise… Good bye, guys.'_ those were his last thoughts before the cold steal of Yūki touched the skin of his torso.

_With the rest of the gang…_

"TAI!" Kari screamed before collapsing hardly in the ground.

"Kari!" TK went to her. "Kari, what happened?"

"It's T-Tai. S-Some-thing bad happened to hi-him." she sobbed.

"Another one who bites the dust!" Jeremie chuckled, hearing the conversation while dodging another 'Static Force'.

Far from there, the 'Finding Tai' party was looking for the said Digidestined when:

"Oh, no!" Agumon yelped, putting his hands on his head. He felt it, but it couldn't be true. It just couldn't!

"What's wrong?" Yumi asked.

"It's Tai!" the rookie screamed.

_Back in the Dark Forest Sector…_

"The heck?" Davis gaped at the sight. The sword had just touched Tai's torso and…did nothing else? Both Digidestined stared at the blade, and then at each other. Davis raised Yūki again and tried to stab Tai, once more. Only to find out that he couldn't. When the tip of the sword touched Tai's skin, it couldn't advance more. It was like there was a barrier over the brunette's skin, shielding him from the steal.

Once again, Tai took the opportunity to kick Davis on his torso. The perplex XANA Warrior fell back, dropping the saber of Courage. Davis distraction made him loose control over the branches that were holding Tai, releasing him. Tai grabbed Yūki and gazed at Davis who had just stood up:

"What's going on here? Why didn't the sword…"

"Isn't it obvious, Davis?" Tai spoke with a voice that didn't appear to be his own. It was a voice of age, wisdom and strength. "Courage means being brave. It's facing what you fear, even when the situation is not in your favor. It's risking your live to protect what matters most, without expecting any glory or payment in return. It's facing the danger, without hesitating and not been afraid of staring at it, in the eye. Those who win when the victory is assured are not brave. Yūki was made from the very manifestation of my crest, that's why it can only be wielded used by a brave heart. Also, because of that, it can never harm those who had courage. And so Davis, it can't hurt me, but" Tai grinned. "it can hurt you."

To prove his point, Tai lashed at him, wielding Yūki on his two hands. He began slashing the saber at Davis, cutting his black skin like butter. Davis screamed in agony. He hadn't expected that the sword could injure him just as much, if not even more than MagnaAngemon or Angewomon's attack.

The pain was blinding him that he couldn't concentrate in nay attack. Soon enough, his body was severely injured, holes all over his XANA Avatar. With one final blow, Tai cut Davis in two, making the XANA Warrior disappear by De-Virtualization.

Tai took a deep breath, relaxing his sore muscles. Then Yūki just disappeared and he felt himself been transported back to the Digital World.

**(A.N.: Davis is NOT dead, ok? And, I'm not a Davis-hater, just for the record.)**

"Blitznak! I'm Super Smoking out of here!" Ken grunted, though he didn't seem that annoyed.

"Uuurgh! This doesn't end here!" Jeremie hissed at the two opponents. Both XANA Warriors retreated, leaving two exhausted Ultimates and three young humans confused.

"What was that all about?" TK asked to nobody in particular. Suddenly, a door of light appeared and from that door Tai came out. The door disappeared and he stood there, facing his astonished friends and sister.

"Tai!" Kari ran to hug him with all her might.

"Hey, guys! I had an adventure and a half." he whispered, before fainting of exhaustion.

"_Prodigious! I'm telling the others Tai is OK._" Izzy's gleeful voice sounded from the sky.

"I CANT' BELIEVE IT! HE'S ALIVE!" Kari was crying in joy and relief.

"And he's going to need a good bath." Yolei remarked.

_Later that night…_

"Aelita." Ulrich entered the pinkette's dorm. Aelita was in her bed, resting. The brunette boy was carrying a tray with all sorts of food. "Yolanda says you have to eat all of this."

"Thanks." she appreciated and took the tray form Ulrich.

"Good night." he said, before stopping by the entrance. "You know, Yolei wanted to apologize to you for blaming you of what happened to Ken. She claims she's sorry. We told her you were resting, so she asked me to deliver the message."

"Tell her she's forgiving." Aelita responded.

"No problem, princess." the german answered.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**Laser Arrow!" Odd shot an arrow at Jeremie's face, who raised a spike to protect his face. The spike was hit by something soft and slightly bigger than a Laser Arrow. **__**It was…**_


	20. Ep 19 Green House of Terror

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 19: Greenhouse of Terror**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

_France_, _Paris_, _Junior_ _High_ _School_ _Kadic_…

"And when the girls finally got the guts to look behind, there was a humongous pile of double cheese burgers, pizza, lasagna and French fries."

"Oh, please. I've heard scarier things in Jim lame speeches." Ulrich mumbled.

"Why are we telling horror stories anyway?" Yumi asked. The whole gang, minus William, was having lunch in the cafeteria.

"'Cause I've run out of jokes." Odd sighed. Aelita giggled at his expression. William finally joined them, with his tray.

"What took you so long?" Ulrich asked.

"Millie and Tamya." the Scottish replied matter-of-factly. "They're publishing an article to convince people to become vegetarian. Like that's gonna work."

"What's wrong with vegetarianism?" Yumi asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Nothing. I'm just saying that is not gonna work. Take it from me, by the way they're doing that, I'll never become a vegetarian." William stated, eating.

_Now, in Odaiba…_

_"Attention students! I have an important announcement. Tomorrow, we will open the greenhouse that has been constructed in the backyard. The main objective of this investment is to have non-obligatory lessons of horticulture. Students may subscribe to those lessons, every Monday to Friday afternoon. The Horticulture classes will be taken every Saturday afternoon, 16:00 to 18:00."_ the principals voice announced in the intercom. The Digidestined were in the cafeteria, having their lunch.

"You hear that? We could go there this Saturday." suggested Kari.

"Yeah, but why? You like plants?" TK asked.

"Not the point. Nowadays the only thing we do together is fighting XANA. We could use a soft class." the brunette insisted. TK smiled at the idea of spending time with Kari.

"Count me in." he assured.

"And what about you Yolei?" Kari turned to her DNA Digivolution companion.

'_Yolei? Oh, man…_' TK mentally slapped himself. He had hoped Kari wanted to spend time just with him.

"Yeah, OK. Count me in." Kari expected a little more from Yolei, but this was better than the Yolei of three days ago. Kari could only hope her friend would return to her normal hyperactive, blunt old-self in time.

"I have Kendo practice, but I'll be there, guys." Cody smiled.

"Hey, Cody." Upamon called, hidden in Cody's lap, under the table. "Why are we going to see plants in green house? What is the difference of doing it in a yellow house, like me?"

"No, Upamon. A green house isn't a house painted in green. It's…"

_Meanwhile, with XANA and pals…_

"**These Digidestined are like characters from a lame love-tragic soap opera.**" XANA muttered, observing the scenes in Odaiba and Paris. This time, he was alone in his private chambers. His minions were in their respective sectors.

"**Hmmm…I wonder what are the **_**all-grown-up-destined**_** doing.**" XANA searched for a trace of the remaining digidestined. He found two of them, Tai and Izzy, in the Izumi residence:

_"I have spoken to Gennai and Franz Hopper about this Dark Forest Sector. There's nothing like what you described in the Digital World. Hopper believes XANA has created his own virtual World, in the Digital World." Izzy explained._

_ "I don't think so. Davis said something about '_being in the Digital World and not being in the Digital World'_." Tai stated, remembering his encounter with Davis._

_ "So, it's like XANA hide out is everywhere, but nowhere. Kinda like alternative dimension. Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. "I'll contact Gennai right away._

XANA turned off the screen, grunting in both annoyance and a pang of fury.

"**Aaaarrrghhh! Those meddling kids found a clue to reach my hiding place! If Davis had properly finished that googlehead off.**" fuming in anger, XANA paused for a minute in order to regain his calm. "**I have to end this war and fast. The Digidestined will have to go first…hmm, they mentioned that green-house.**"

XANA remained silent until a plan began take form in his mind. If XANA had a mouth, he would be showing a smirk, right then. Chuckling, the cloud of smoke continued his monologue:

"**And so it begins this Saturday. But, to make sure its failure proof, I'll be using one of my old tricks. I hope those kids have ever seen '**_**Adele Hasn't Had Her Diner Yet'**_**.** XANA unleashed another chuckle. "**BWAHAHAHAHAH! I'm so evil! I wished my mother GLaDOS was here to see me. She would be so proud of me!**"

_In that Saturday…_

"OK, class. We'll be starting by transplantingthese lemon trees. Everybody form pairs to work together." the teacher said. There were eight students in the greenhouse, four of which were TK, Kari, Yolei and Cody. Gatomon and Patamon were outside, since they weren't easy to hide. Poromon and Upamon were hidden in their human's backpacks. Most of the greenhouse was full with bags of earth, empty vases and sachets of seeds. Though, there were a few plants that were already developed into small trees. Also, there were plants such as cauliflower, cucumber, pumpkin, melons and many others.

"Kari, would you…" TK asked, but the girl already turned to Yolei.

"Sorry, TK. I promised Yolei I would pair up with her. She needs a friend, right now."

TK sighed and Cody turned to him:

"You want to work together?" the small boy asked. TK nodded with a ghost of a smile. Outside, Gatomon and Patamon were watching the class, hiding.

"TK still trying to get Kari to notice him?" Gatomon sighed tiredly. "Those two are like characters from some soap opera."

"What about Kari? Does she still like TK?" Patamon inquired.

"I can tell she does. But now she's only worried about Yolei." the cat digimon mumbled. "How is Demi-Veemon doing?"

"Not so good. Remember whenever Davis complaint about Veemon eating his food?" Patamon asked. Demi-Veemon had been leaving with TK and Patamon, because Davis Clone kicked the blue digimon out. "Well, if Davis was here, he wouldn't have motive to complain. Demi-Veemon hasn't eating in days, now. TK and I tried to talk to him, but he always looking at the window, moping. He hasn't said a word since he moved in. Looks like he's trying to break a silence record."

Gatomon hissed, discomforted to have heard that. She knew Veemon was a hair-head (like Davis) but no digimon deserved to be separated from their digidestined and vice-versa. A chill ran through her spine and her tail shivered when she imagined if Kari was captured by XANA.

Both digimon continued observing the class, unaware that behind the green house, Davis Clone was hiding silently. He crawled to the sliding door of the green house, making sure nobody saw him. Slowly he opened the door just a bit and threw a marble-sized black orb with the Eye of XANA into the inside. He chuckled silently and closed the door, making a communication with XANA.

**::Mission accomplished, XANA.::**

** ::It's **_**Master XANA**_**, for you::**__XANA replied.

**::I don't think so. Remember, I'm working **_**with**_** you, not working **_**for**_** you. We're allies, not boss and sidekick. Got it?::** Davis Clone replied, harshly.

** ::Whatever. Now that's taken care of, I can activate my tower. Remember that once the Digidestined are no more, I'll give you what you want. Now you have 5 minutes to get out of there, before they think you have something to do with this attack.::** XANA said, before cutting the communication. Davis stood up and walked out of there, heading to the gate. However, a voice made him stand:

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he turned around and saw two unpleasant figures in the top of a tree: Gatomon and Patamon. Both were staring daggers at him. Davis gave them the same look.

"What's it to you?" the Monomorphic Specter rudely snarled.

"Why are you here? Came to bully more little kids?" Patamon said.

"No. I was just taking a walk." the clone muttered, walking away.

"Yeah right." Gatomon hissed, but let him go anyway. The scene continued calm and peaceful, until they heard a shriek from within the green house.

_Inside the green house…_

Suddenly, the marble with XANA's mark exploded into a cloud of smoke which spread in the whole green house, but was instantly absorbed by the plants. The students and teacher stopped couching when all the smoke vanished into the plants' organisms.

"Is everybody alright, children?" the teacher asked. A girl pointed to somewhere and screamed.

"Look!" the place she was pointing had a small _unordinary_ tomatoplant. Unordinary because tomatoplants didn't usually moved by themselves. And they also didn't usually grown wide mouths with sharpen teeth. To everybody's horror, the same began to happen to all the plants. The vegetable life forms disrooting their roots and walked towards the humans, growling in ferocity and hunger. Now, the plants are in the top of the food chain.

"Everybody out!" the teacher yelped, opening the door. The students and adult ran to the outside and closed the door. The carnivorous plants began to hit the door and the walks of the house, trying to get out.

"Everybody run away from here." the teacher ordered, he failed to notice that four students were gone, running towards the main building on campus and not to the exit. Gatomon and Patamon were running/flying behind them.

"What happened?" the flying rookie asked.

"XANA." the four humans answered, at once.

"He XANAfied the whole green house and gave the plants and taste for human flesh." Yolei shrieked.

"I just hope the others are ok?" Cody thought about the teacher and their classmates.

"Don't worry about them. Those freaks only have digidestined in their menu." TK looked behind. True enough; the XANA's new friends were only after them. Something Yolei's and Cody's backpacks began to move: their partners in their In-Training forms.

"Guys, what's with all the hurry?" Poromon asked.

"Look behind us!" everybody answered. The digimon did so and shrieked. Kari opened her D-Terminal and communicated with Izzy, via video-chat.

"_Izzy, XANA just joined Man-Eating Vegetal Syndicate_ _against us. We're running to Computer Room!"_ Kari spoke.

"_What? XANA turned normal plants into _man-eating_ ones? Prodigious!"_

"_Izzy!"_ Kari scowled.

"_Sorry. I'm informing Aelita. They are already set. The tower is been guarded by Ken and three Yūjo-Lobscions."_

_With our other heroes…_

"Yumi and Ulrich will go to the Digital World, wait for the others. I'll send your vehicles." Aelita tipped, while Yumi and Ulrich entered their Scanners. When the Virtualization was done, she spoke. "The tower is south of your position. Don't attack yet, Ken is around there and none of us can affect him."

"_You got it, Aelita._" Yumi replied.

"Odd and William, you two and I will be Teleported to Odaiba's school. When the others make it to the Digital World, we'll join them." Aelita instructed, preparing a delayed virtualization. She went to the Scanner Room, where Odd and William were inside their Scanners. She went into hers and couldn't stop notice Odd was eating a cupcake.

"Odd, honestly, it's not time to eat." she scowled. William rolled his eyes.

"To Odd Della-Robia, it's always time to eat." William said.

"Mummmph!" Odd replied, with a cupcake already in his mouth. The Scanners closed and the Virtualization began. The screen in the Lab showed three profiles. However, Odd's profile showed an error sign:

"_ALERT: Harmful____Organic material detected in Scanner 3. Severe Teleportation damage detected."_ a female voice said from the SuperComputer.

_In Odaiba…_

"We're almost there." TK said. The group was running in a corridor, looking for the stares that would take them to the second floor. Unfortunately, the plants had gotten inside and the pursuit continued. Poromon and Upamon had digivolved into rookies, just in case they had to fight. The running gang turned a corner and stopped. On the other end, several lettucesclenching their fangs in deadly smirks.

"Ok, retreat." TK said.

"I don't think so." Yolei said, pointing behind them. Their pursuers, a bunch of walking small apple treesand lemon trees reached them. The plants on both sides approached them.

"OK, it's time to digivolve." Armadillomon said.

"But guys, this is a school corridor. There's not enough room for a single armor digimon." Yolei countered. But before the digimon could counter-attack, two familiar voices were heard.

"Energy Field!"

"Energy Disk!" the lettuces that were blocking the way were tore apart by the attacks. The digidestined and digimon were glad to see Aelita, Odd and William.

"Let's moving!" Odd shouted. The gang, now bigger than before, ran.

"Good to see you didn't turn into food." William complimented.

"Where to, guys?" Aelita asked.

"If we keep going, we'll get into the cafeteria. Then there are a few stairs that will take us to the 2nd floor." TK informed. Just then, Kari's D-Terminal beeped. It was Izzy!

"_Izzy! What is it?"_

"_It's XANA. He has activated a second tower, in the same location the first one is."_ the redhead informed.

"_Why?"_

"_No idea, but I can tell is not good. I'll keep you posted."_

_ 'Since when XANA's tricks are something else than _notgood_?'_ Kari wondered to herself.

"Why would XANA activate a new tower?" Cody asked. The group soon past by a door and entered an empty cafeteria. Then XANA's 2nd tower served its purpose. Lighting stroke the floor in front of them and two figures were Teleported: Jeremie and Davis.

"There's your answer." William pointed.

"Sorry, ladies. This is a dead end." Jeremie smirked. "Though, not as dead as you are about to be."

"Your puns suck, Belpois." Davis muttered.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd shot an arrow at Jeremie's face, which raised a spike to protect his face. The spike was hit by something soft and slightly bigger than a Laser Arrow. It was… a cupcake? Everybody was silent and stunned. Davis and Jeremie looked at the cupcake squashed in the spike, each one quirking an eyebrow. The heroes were all staring at Odd, who was examining his gloves, oddly.

"Laser Arrow!" he, this time fired at Davis, who caught the projectile with his claw-hand. It was another cupcake. Both XANA Warriors looked at it, before bursting out laughing.

"Nice one, Della-Robia! Did you eat a cupcake when you were in the Scanners?" Jeremie mocked. William raised his sword, but Davis prepared two Dark Fields.

"Don't you even think about it!" the googlehead grunted.

"If you even move an eyebrow, we will shoot. Don't try anything too stupid." Jeremie warned, preparing his spikes. He noticed Gatomon was preparing to digivolve. "Don't even think about it kitty."

"Guys, I hate to give more bad news, but those plants are coming." Yolei whispered. TK clenched his teeth: either they were fried and froze by Jeremie and Davis or they were eaten by those plants. It was times like this that made him feel pressed; with Davis out, he was the leader of their team.

'If only… That's it!' TK thought. He murmured to the others, quietly, so that the XANA Warriors didn't listen:

"Guys, when I say the word, we all duck." most of them looked at him oddly, but everyone nodded. They could hear the groans and grunts of the starving plants approaching. Jeremie and Davis were about to unleash their attacks.

"On my mark." TK whispered.

"Bye bye, digidorks! Ice!"

"Dark Field!"

"DUCK!"

The heroes all got down, and the attacks performed by Davis and Jeremie hit the corridor behind them, where the plants were in coming. All the vegetables had one of two fates. They were either froze to death or burnt to the grown.

"Holy %& §!" both XANA Warriors swore when they realized they had destroyed their master's creations. TK decided to use their shock to get out of that mess.

"Let's go through that door." TK pointed to the door on their left, the emergency exit of the cafeteria. It took villains a moment to realize the heroes were gone.

"As Ken would say, _blitznak_!" Davis muttered.

_With our fleeing heroes…_

"Turn tail!" Odd yelped. The corridor in front of them was blocked by more lettuces.

"These guys just keep coming!" Yolei shrieked.

"The stairs!" Kari pointed at the stairs that would lead them to the 1st floor. The group ran, as the starving plants advanced. William tripped and three of the lettuces just jumped onto his back, stopping him from standing up.

"Guys! A little help here." William yelped at his friends who were already climbing the stairs. Odd turned around and aimed:

"Laser Arrow!" unfortunately, instead of an arrow, it was a Laser Cupcake which hit William's face.

"Phew…That's no help at all, Odd!" the swordsman yelled. The plants were closing in his downed body.

"Odd, come on! We have to go!" Aelita shrieked.

"What? But William is…We can't leave a friend behind to die!" the cat Lyoko Warrior yelled back.

"Who says anything about dying? He'll just be De-Teleported into the Digital World." the pinkette said, like explaining to someone that two plus two is four.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry William. See ya in the Digital World." Odd took off, along with the others, leaving a stunned William with starving carnivorous sharpen teeth lettuces all over him.

_A while later…_

"I can't believe they left there to be eaten." William roared silently through clenched teeth. After been tore apart and swallowed by the lettuces, the Lyoko Warrior reappeared in the Digital World and joined Yumi and Ulrich. The three were now watching Ken and the monsters guarding the two towers.

"Well, at least you're alive, right?" Yumi tried to cheer him up. William turned to her with a murdering glare:

"Do you have any idea of how it feels to be eaten alive by plants?"

"Hm…No." Ulrich replied. William just pouted, murmuring something about 'stupid vegetables'.

In the real world, someone was thinking about the exact same event.

"Shield!" Odd summoned his shield to block the trees which were now tossing fruit at them. "You think William is mad at us, for having let him behind?"

"No, not a chance." Aelita answered. "Energy Field!"

"Air shot!"

"Neko punch!"

Aelita, Odd and the Digimon were defending the digidestined, who were busy trying to repair the computer. So of the plants had gotten to the Computer Room before and wrecked some of the equipment.

"We're almost there." Yolei said. The computer finally turned on.

"We did it, you guys." Cody said.

"That's good. But this isn't going well, on our side." Patamon said.

"Let's go, hurry!" Kari said, holding her D-3. The defenders managed to keep the plants at the bay, for one minute and closed the door. The cables were shaking and sparkling, indicating the equipment was going to blow, at any moment.

"Digiport Open!" Kari shouted in the same moment that the screen exploded.

_In the Netherworld…I mean Digital World_

From a TV, two digidestined, four digimon and two Lyoko Warriors came out. This trip to the Digital World felt different than the others. Only then they noticed two people missing.

"Kari? Kari! Where's Kari?" Gatomon seemed to be freaking out. It was not everyday who could see the cat Champion like that.

"TK! TK is missing too!" Patamon joined her.

"Calm down. If they aren't here, they can only be in the Computer Room." Aelita concluded.

"We have to go back and get them!" Gatomon shrieked. Cody pulled out his D-Terminal.

"Kari, are you guys alright?" the boy spoke via video-chat.

"_Yeah, we're hiding in a closet. But the plants are still out there and the computer is fried."_ the girl replied. "_But Jeremie and Davis returned to the Digital World. XANA must think we're all in the Digital World."_

"OK. We'll de-activate the remaining tower." Cody promised and closed the communication.

_A few minutes before, in the Computer Room…_

Kari and TK coughed. They didn't fell the usual World-crossing feeling they always had when they opened the Digiport. When the smoke cleared, they learnt where they were.

"Kari, you OK?" TK asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks." she replied and looked at the wrecked computer. "Oh, no. Now we're stuck in here."

The sound of someone, or rather, something pushing the door continuously made them realize they were in bigger trouble. The plants hadn't given up yet and were trying to break in the room.

"We have to barricade the door." Kari said. Surprisingly, TK stopped her.

"Kari, they probably don't know the Digiport was opened. They must think we're all still here. We should hide, instead." the Digidestined of Hope said.

"But where?" she asked. TK pointed to a tall, man size locker. They entered the tight locker, with clenched their bodies together. TK closed the door right before the plants entered the room. Footsteps were heard and a voice that made their blood freeze in fear spoke:

"Just great. They managed to escape." it sounded like Jeremie.

"No matter. We'll get them in the Digital World." that was Davis. Kari didn't even dare to breathe.

"Yeah,… we're no longer needed here." Jeremie agreed. "But you plants keep patrolling the school. Who knows if they aren't still around here."

With that, Davis and Jeremie were De-Teleported back to the Digital World. The plants went away, carrying Jeremie's orders. Both Digidestined breathed in relief. Only then Kari noticed how close she was to TK and how together their bodies were.

"TK!" she yelped, though in whisper.

"Sorry." he apologized. "Maybe we can get out, now."

TK tried to open the locker the door, but failed. He tried again, realizing a fact he had forgotten. The locker was locked.

"Ops" he murmured.

"What?" Kari asked.

"We're locked." he answered simply. Kari's eyes went wide.

"Locked? Oh, no. Now, instead of been eaten, we will suffocate inside of this." Kari sighed.

"I'm sorry. It was my idea to get in here." TK apologized. Kari stared at him in the eyes.

"No, if he didn't hide, we would already be plant food. You were just trying to look after me, like a leader. You've done always done that, especially after Davis was captured." she said, giving him a friendly smile.

"Thanks. But let's not talk. We need to spare oxygen." TK said.

_In the Digital World…_

"I can't believe you guys just left there to be eaten! What kind of friends are you, anyway?" William shouted hysterically, while he Ulrich and Yumi dealt with an Yūjo-Lobscion.

"Sorry Will. But you're alive, remember?" Odd remarked "Laser Arrow!"

Another Yūjo-Lobscion, engaging Aelita and Odd, had the laser of its tail hit by a cupcake. Ankylomon was dealing with the last armored lobster-scorpion-like monster. His size and armor was the only think that protected him from most of electric and laser attacks. Ken was been kept busy by Shurimon. True, the ninja digimon couldn't harm the XANA Warrior, but his speed and agility prevented him from been hit. While Shurimon kept Ken occupied, he couldn't go after Patamon and Gatomon. If those two were finished off, they would have no one who could deal with Davis and Ken.

"Super Smoke!" Ken fired a cloud of smoke from his hand.

"Ninja Wind!" Shurimon shouted, summoning a breeze with leafs which dispersed the Super Smoke. "Double Star!"

Shurimon giant Shuriken couldn't hurt Ken, but it did make him lose his sword. The dark Zweihander rolled in the dark and ended up piercing the ground.

"Blitznak!" Ken shouted. He raised his hand to summon back his blade.

Meanwhile, Ulrich's team managed to destroy their enemy, leaving only two monsters and one XANA Warrior. Due to the lack of anyone on the computer to guide them, nobody knew that one Yūjo-Hornet was sneaking behind the human children.

"Great job, you guys!" Yolei cheered, once William, Ulrich and Yumi beat the first Yūjo-Lobscion. The sound of insect' wings flapping was heard behind them, but it was too late. The insect monster caught Cody and took off.

"Guys!" he cried out.

"CODY!" Ankylomon grunted. The dinosaur champion meant to go after his partner but his enemy was blocking the way. The Hornets were the fastest of XANA's monsters and Ankylomon wasn't a runner.

"Don't worry, I'll go after him." Ulrich took off, running after their captured friend. Yumi watched her boyfriend going to the rescue of their youngest friend.

'_XANA always gets a way to cast us further apart.'_ the _geisha_ sighed and went to help Aelita and Odd.

Cody was flying so fast that was amazing he hadn't past out yet. This Hornet was faster than the others. Cody figured this specific Hornet was sent to kidnap and not to fight. The scenario began to change to a deserted arid valley. The Hornet slowed down and landed. Before Cody could give a proper look around, the Scyphozoa grabbed him and began to probe his mind.

_Back in Davy Jones' Locker … I mean the Computer Room' locker_

It seemed like hours, though TK checked in his watch that had only past 5 minutes. The air was getting more and more rarefied by the second and the temperature was increasing. The blond took a glance at Kari, who was sweating now. Kari noticed him glaring at her and TK quickly averted his gaze.

"TK…" she knew she should spare oxygen, but she feared this was the last time she would ever talk to someone. "since this could be it…"

"Don't say that, Kari." TK replied but she continued nonetheless.

"…what would you want to do…one day?" she asked. TK sighed but decided to give her an answer anyway.

"One day…I would like to write a book of our adventures." the Digidestined of Hope confessed. "What about you?"

"Well…I always wanted to be a teacher." she assumed. "But now…I don't think…"

"No!" TK said. He knew where Kari was going. "We can't lose hope. We will live."

"That's why you the Digidestined of Hope. You always believe we will go through." Kari gave him a ghost of a smile.

"I couldn't if it wasn't for you. Remember what Azulongmon said? He told us that it's the Light that gives Hope strength. Hope means to never lose your light, no matter how dark the world is."

"I guess our Crest can't exist one without the other." Kari laughed lightly. Absently, Kari didn't notice she placed her hand in TK face.

"TK…when I said I wanted to be a teacher…that wasn't all." she whispered, her cheek got pink in that moment.

"Same here." TK also talked in a whisper, his cheek flushing too. "I wanted something else. I…don't know how to spill it out in a time like this."

"Same here." she repeated TK's answer. "Let's say it at the same time. Deal?"

"Deal." TK agreed. "On the count of three: one…two…"

"THREE! I love you!" both digidestined said at the same time. The boy and the girl stood there, staring at each other.

"You mean it?" both spoke, at once. "Hey, wait. Let me talk…"

They stood silent for a while, staring at each other, before TK broke the silence.

"Did you really mean it when you said you loved me?" he asked, slowly. She didn't answer right away:

"Yeah…and you?"

"Same here." he repeated himself. They faces came closer and closer. Both digidestined began to close their eyes. The moment was cut short when the two humans heard the sound of footsteps and growling. The plants were back. Both Digidestined stood silent, but the body heat coming out of the locker gave them away. The plants began to hit the door of the locker or trying to bite it. Despite they had neither muscle nor teeth to break metal, they were denting the door with all those punches. Soon enough, they would have two fresh humans as a reward.

"Oh, no." Kari cried out.

'_Please guys, hurry up._' TK mentally whispered.

_In the Shadow Realm…Sorry, Digital World_

Cody mind drifted to when he was contaminated with XANA's very essence, which turned him into a human version of the evil Multi-agent System and put him against his friends. **(Episode 9)**

Apparently, destiny wanted him to go against his friends one more time. Maybe forever. The Digidestined of Knowledge and Loyalty felt like falling asleep…deeper and deeper…in the shadows of oblivion.

Far from there, the heroes destroyed the last Yūjo-Lobscion. Ankylomon finished it off with a violent Tail Hammer, crushing the monster into oblivion. Patamon gave a worried look at his DNA Digivolution partner. Never before he had seen Ankylomon fighting like that, unleashing his anger (or maybe his frustration) in the enemy. The orange-hamster-like rookie understood, if it was TK, he would also going berserk on XANA. Now, only Ken remained.

"You're alone now. Why don't you just surrender?" Shurimon asked. Ken's didn't bother to answer. Instead, someone else did that for him.

"He's not alone, ninja-boy." it was Jeremie. He and Davis were running to the battle field, soon joining Ken standing between them and the tower.

"Oh, great. More bad news!" Yumi muttered.

"You bet, Yumes." the blond XANA Warrior smirked. He then glanced at Ankylomon. "Hey, chubby. How does it feel to know your partner has just joined our club?"

"What?" the heroes shouted. Ankylomon eyes went wide when he learnt what Jeremie was implying.

"Pst. Belpois, what are you…?" Ken whispered.

"You know, the Scyphozoa just finished his job, before the samurai could do anything. And he told you to not worry." Jeremie wished he had a picture of Ankylomon's incredulous face. The dinosaur digimon couldn't believe it.

"Belpois, what are you doing?" Davis asked in a murmur. "You know that …"

"Yeah, but they don't. I just wanted to toy with that dino-brain." the blond murmured back.

"Have you ever thought that taunting your enemies may one day turn against you?" Ken asked. A humungous grunt called their attention. It was Ankylomon. He looked at the three humans with a murdering wild look an enraged animal gives to its enemy.

"Oh, what the worst he can do? I'm too fast for him and you two can't be devirtualized by that…" Jeremie sentence was cut short when Ankylomon slashed his Tail Hammer against them. Jeremie was devirtualized right there on the spot. Davis and Ken were tossed against the Control Spire knocking it down.

"Blitznak!" Ken growled before passing out.

"I'm gonna be … all sore … in the morning." Davis panted, also passing out.

Ankylomon was panting hard before de-digivolving into Armadillomon. The stunned Digidestined and Lyoko Warriors approached him, warily.

"Armadillomon, are you ok?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah…I just…sorry…" the rookie began to apologize.

"Hey, guys!" two voices yelled. The group turned around to see Ulrich running to them with someone on his back.

"Cody!" Armadillomon yelped in relief and joy. The group ran to their friends, Armadillomon running with an unexpected speed.

"Cody, you're OK!" the rookie shouted in joy.

"But how? Jeremie said you were possessed by the Scyphozoa." William said.

"Possessed? No, Ulrich saved me just in time." Cody remarked. A puzzled expression crossed everyone else's face, before Yolei burst out:

"That jerk! He was just messing with us." just then, her D-Terminal beeped. It was TK:

"_We're alright, guys. Great job. It was a close call. But the teacher called the police. Now it's a good time for a jump back in time."_

"You got it. Return to the Past, now!"

Back in the Odaiba's school, in the ravaged Computer Room, TK looked at Kari and smiled:

"If we're going back to the Green house class, you want to work together with me?" the blond asked. Kari looked at the incoming bubble of white light and answered with a smile:

"Sure. Why not?"

_In Hogwarts…I mean, Kadic…_

"When the woman looked to the back seat, she saw a cow eating her amputated leg." Odd finished his story.

"Boring. That is even more lame than the other one." Ulrich mumbled. They continued in silence until William finally joined them. Yumi however noticed something in his tray.

"William, why are you only eating vegetables?" the _geisha_ asked. "Did Millie's and Tamya's article convinced you that green is good?"

"No, but this little adventure in the green house of terror did." William muttered. "After having been eaten by those plants…it kinds mest me up. As far I'm concerned, I'll never eat meat again."

"Guys, there's something that keeps bugging me." Aelita said. "Gatomon told she saw Davis Clone around the green house, before XANA attacked. Could he be related with this? I mean, XANA may be powerful, but he transformed harmless plants into monsters. He couldn't have done it with a simple activated tower. Besides, that Clone isn't exactly Mr. Sunshine."

The others looked at her doubly. Ulrich was the one who spoke:

"I don't think so. I mean, the clones always have problems, but if he helped XANA, that would make him evil. If these clones are just programs, not AIs like XANA. They can't be evil. Can they?"

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**I'll give you back two digidestined for the price of two other digidestined." XANA proposed.**_

"_**Have you ever seen '**_**Labyrinth'**_**?" the Specter asked.**_

"_**Why don't you just go back to your Master?" Cody hissed at him.**_

"_**Maybe I will." the Polymorphic replied. **_


	21. Ep 20 Ultimatum

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 20: Ultimatum**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

_Outside_ _the school of Odaiba…_

"Don't you think this is eavesdropping?" Gabumon asked. He and Agumon were hiding in a tree, at the entrance of the school. Tai and Matt were talking close by, unaware they were been watched.

"Don't look at this like eavesdropping. This is more like hiding body-guards." Agumon remarked. The two rookies were watching their partners, making sure XANA didn't try to possess them.

"Have you even thought about that? Man-eating plants?" Matt muttered.

"I hear you. XANA's attacks are getting weirder by the day. And they were weird enough already in the beginning. Remember when he controlled us to chase Kari and TK around the city like maniacs." Tai mumbled.

"And I ended up beating Izzy to a pulp." Matt recalled, feeling guilty.

"And now he's press-ganging our friends." the brunette muttered. "Sometimes I can't sleep at night imagining Kari will be next."

"Same here. I could never forgive myself if TK was turned into a XANA's puppet."

"Hey, guys!" a young voice called out. The older digidestined turned around and saw Cody running up to them. The small brunette reached them and whispered so that the other people around wouldn't listen:

"XANA has launched an attack. The others are going to the Digital World. But we need help to stop the attack here or people are going to get hurt." the Digidestined of Knowledge and Loyalty said.

"Where?" Matt questioned.

"This way." Cody ran and the two older digidestined followed. The two rookies quickly jumped from the tree and followed them:

"Agumon!" Tai exclaimed.

"Gabumon, what are you guys doing here?" Matt questioned.

"Just making sure you guys don't get into trouble with XANA." Agumon answered. The four ran after Cody, who took them to a desert ally. The ally had damaged walls and garbage spread everywhere, like a rough fight had taken place there, recently. Digimon and humans had a look around.

"So, Cody where is this XANA attack?" Gabumon asked.

"**Right behind you, Binky-boy!**" panic installed, but it was too late. The Polymorphic Specter unleashed an electric wave which put both rookies and teenagers out cold.

**"That was easier than I thought."** XANA-Cody whispered.

_In the mean time…_

In the computer room of Odaiba's School, Yolei was at the computer talking to Aelita, while Poromon was flying around.

"_Guys, I have good news. My father, with the help of Gennai and his friends, found a way to allow digivolution to Mega, while in the range of a Control Spire."_ Aelita spoke. Yolei nodded; those news would have been motive of triumph, but with both Ken and Davis out, there was no one on the junior Digidestined who could go Mega. The pinkette was talking to the Digidestined of Love and Sincerity, as usual by the computers.

"That's great Aelita. But we still don't know how to hit Davis or _Ken_." the pinkette noticed the taller girl's voice trembled a little at the mention of her XANAfied boyfriend's name.

"_Yes, but they're still…_" Aelita's voice was cut by another one. A much deeper voice, filled with evil. The voice of their mutual enemy: XANA.

"**Greetings, ladies and nerds! I'm here to tell you I want to play a game. Are you interested?"**

"I don't think I like his definition of _game_." Poromon said.

"What do you want, XANA?" Aelita hissed. XANA carried on, like their reply was affirmative.

"**The name of the game is: Trade or Lose. I have your friends Tai and Matt captive. Your move in this game is to deliver their younger siblings in the Digital World, _alone_. If you don't, I'm afraid in one hour, you'll find the smell of fried Senior Googlehead and toasted hot-shot guitar player.**"

"WHAT! You want us to give you Kari and TK to save Matt and Tai!" Yolei growled, furious.

"**That's right! I'll give you back two digidestined for the price of two other digidestined.**" XANA proposed. "**Oh, and speaking of Digidestined, I've also informed the other members of your little gang. And one more rule of the game: No Lyoko Warriors allowed. I have the Scanners watched; if anyone is virtualized, my prisoners will bite the dust, regardless if the time is up or not**."

"Hold on. How do we know you'll keep you word?" Poromon asked.

"**Simple, you don't. Now choose your only move in this game wisely. You have one hour, starting by now!"** XANA said and the room became silent, once again.

"_Now what?"_ Aelita asked exasperatingly. The sliding door opened, revealing a panting Cody and three In-training Digimon Upamon, Tsunomon and Koromon the two last were beaten up.

"Cody! Did you…" Yolei got her answer when the boy nodded.

"And I've found Koromon and Tsunomon. Tai and Matt were nowhere to be found, though." Cody panted. "They say the kidnapper was a Polymorphic Specter disguised as me."

Once again, the sliding door opened and TK and Kari entered the room. They were panting and sweating from both running and fear for what may happen to their siblings.

"I guess…you guys…got the message." TK panted.

"_I'll call Ulrich and the others."_ Aelita suggested.

"But XANA said if you guys went to the Digital World…" Cody countered.

"_I know. But they need to know. We will stay in the Lab. If we can find Tai and Matt and rescue them from XANA's clutches, I'll virtualize us into the Digital World to knock down the tower that Cody's evil twin set up."_ Aelita said, while typing. "_If only I can detect a stress signal from their digivices…Though I'm pretty sure that XANA must be jamming the signal." _

_Meanwhile, with the hostages…_

Time: 00:52 Matt slowly began to stir. He opened his eyes and saw the downed form of Tai. The first thing he noticed was that both he and Tai were tied up. He gave a look around and found himself in an old abandoned warehouse.

"What the…" he saw that someone else was there, with their back turned to him. He was short with equally short brown hair. It was… "Cody!"

Cody turned to him and eyed the digidestined, dispassionately. Then Matt recalled the all scene. But it couldn't be Cody, for XANA couldn't have controlled him. Unless…

"You're specter, aren't you?"

"**Well, duh! What else could I be, a stress-induced hallucination?**" the Polymorphic Specter said sarcastically. XANA-Cody turned around again, making sure no unexpected guests appear.

"So, why are we here?" Matt asked, wanting to distract XANA-Cody. "Why didn't you killed us right away?"

"**It's a need to know thing**." XANA-Cody replied, without looking at him. "**And right now, XANA doesn't think you need to know**."

Matt waited a few seconds so that XANA-Cody would be distracted. The blond began to try to reach his pocket, where he knew his cell-phone and Digivice were. However, he soon found out the pocket was empty.

"**Nice try, blondy. But without these gadgets, you're not going anywhere**." XANA-Cody mocked/whispered, showing him two cell-phones and tow digivices. "**Oh, and if you think your buddies can track you back here, forget it. I'm jamming the signal from your Digi-toys so no one can find us**."

"We'll see about that, shorty." Matt hissed. His words cost him an electro shock, courtesy of XANA-Cody.

"**Never call me 'shorty', human!"**

_With the digidestined…_

Time: 00:30 "Nothing is working. XANA is definitely jamming the signal." Izzy knocked his fist in the keyboard.

"_Wait. The scanners have Matt's and Tai's DNA scanned. Maybe I can detect them."_ Aelita thought.

"You can?" Yolei asked.

"_Maybe_." Aelita began typing right away. Two digidestined were outside of the whole fuss. TK and Kari. Half an hour had past and they couldn't even find Tai and Matt.

"Guys, you ok?" Patamon and Gatomon asked, attending to their partners.

"Yeah, we're fine." Kari assured, lying. Patamon and Gatomon weren't convinced but thought it was better not to disturb their worried sick humans even more. Kari and TK looked at each other. Weirdly enough, since they only became an official couple very recently. However a single glance was enough for both to know what the other was thinking. They nodded before Kari announced:

"Guys, I have to go to the toilet."

"I'll go with you. XANA is always up to something." Gatomon said.

"No need to. I'll go with her. Besides, imagine if someone sees you." TK told Gatomon. It took a while to convince her, but Gatomon finally give in. When the two humans left the room, Gatomon looked suspiciously at the door. Patamon noticed this and asked:

"There's something fishy going on here. And it's not the good type, is it?" he asked. She nodded.

"You know, I've never seen TK so worried. He seemed so desperate." Patamon confessed. He usually saw his blond partner as the incarnation of his crest.

"It's natural. Their brothers' lives are on the line." Cody said.

"And knowing those two by the brothers they have, they might do something stupid to save them, like giving themselves up to XANA." Yolei suggested. Both Izzy and Aelita suddenly stopped typing and Cody eyes went wide.

"What?" Yolei asked. Then it hit her. "Oh, no. No, they wouldn't…"

A beep from the computer alerted them. Izzy looked at the screen and felt a chill up his spine.

"Someone just opened a Digi-port in this building. Oh, no." Izzy gulped.

_Back in the warehouse…_

Time: 00:13 **:: The kid and the girl took the bait. Let the hostages go.::** XANA instructed to his Polymorphic Specter.

**::Right away, sir. _Semper Malus_!::** XANA-Cody replied.

**::Semper what?::** XANA asked confused.

**::The Marine's motto is _Semper Fí_. I thought we should have our own. It means _Always Evil_.::** XANA-Cody explained

**::Yeah, sure. That's great, Binky-boy. But now you have a new mission. Just accomplish it.::** XANA finished.

The polymorphic Specter cut the telepathic channel and turned to the humans. Tai had finally wake up a while ago. XANA-Cody cut the ropes around them and announced:

"**You're free to go.**" with that, the Specter changed into a ghost of smoke and disappeared.

"That was weird." Tai said, catching his Digivice.

"Maybe XANA gave up." Matt suggested. "I'll call Izzy to tell him about this."

Matt dialed Izzy's number on his cell phone. It wasn't long before Matt's call was answered by a very distressed Izzy.

"WHAT?" Matt shouted.

"What is it? Why are you screaming?" Tai asked.

"Just stay there! We're coming! We'll get there in a minute!" Matt shouted to the cell phone before hanging up and taking off. Tai followed suit, worried about what he didn't know.

"Hey Matt, what's the problem?" Tai asked, as the two teens ran out of the warehouse and made their way back to the school.

"XANA threatened to kill us if TK and Kari didn't let the Scyphozoa catch them!" Matt shouted, his anger and worriment.

"What? Wait, don't tell me the others…" Tai began but Matt shocked his head.

"No, they didn't. But TK and Kari tricked them and went to the Digital World alone."

"Oh, no! Kari, once I get my hands on you, you're so grounded!" Tai grunted.

_A few minutes before…_

"The Scyphozoa just got them! Watch out for the Yūki-Hornets!" Aelita warned, transferring Ulrich, Yumi and Odd into Lyoko. She then proceeded doing the same with William and herself. The Scyphozoa was doing his job with Kari and TK in the top of a small mountain, while the heroes were down below dealing with the armored Hornets. The monsters seemed determinate to keep them at bay. Ulrich had never seen Hornets so though, even armored ones.

"Ok, so this isn't going well." Ulrich muttered, avoiding a wave of flames. The monsters avoided direct contact, avoiding been destroyed. They only engaged the heroes if they tried to reach the Scyphozoa.

"By this rate, TK and Kari will be…" Aelita whispered, flying away from the chasing Hornets. She had a crazy idea she only hoped it worked. "But to do it, I have to lower my guard."

"Odd! William! Give me some cover!" she landed close by the two boys.

"For what?" Odd asked.

"Just do it. I need some time." Aelita urged. The swordsman and human cat did what she told them. The pinkette used her star-bracelet to access to the Super Computer's programs:

"Virtualize OverBike!" she said, and the computer activated the program.

"You're gonna virtualize the OverBike? That's your plan?" Odd asked, puzzled.

"Yes." Aelita smirked. She did, indeed, virtualized the vehicle, but not where the Lyoko Warriors could use it. The OverBike's wireframe appeared a few meters above the unaware jellyfish monster. With no ground beneath it for support, the OverBike fell over the Scyphozoa, hitting and cracking its bulbous head. The hit made the monsters let go of its two victims.

"That was incredibly easy." Yumi said, astonished.

"I'm starting to wonder if Aelita isn't really Odd's cousin." Ulrich murmured. Seeing no purpose in keep fighting, the Yūki-Hornet's retreated. The Lyoko Warriors went to where the two knocked out digidestined were.

"You guys are OK?" Yumi asked. Both digidestined were still a bit out of it.

"Yumi, what? What are you doing here? XANA said…" TK was cut off by William:

"No problem. XANA let them go when you 2 got here. But I would be more worried about you two."

"Why?" Kari asked.

"Because they vowed to ground you for the rest of your lives for sacrificing yourselves for them." Aelita and the others laughed, while TK and Kari gulped.

_Meanwhile, in the Computer Room_

"They're safe!" Izzy declared, sighing in relief. Just then, the sliding door burst open, revealing Tai and Matt. Koromon and Tsunomon immediately jumped to their partners.

"You're alright!" both In-training digimon cried out.

"And TK and Kari are too. Aelita had a prodigious idea which saved them." Izzy informed.

"Alright? They're not alright. They're done for." Matt growled. "Let's go there, right now."

"OK then." Yollei complied, holding up her Digivice. Right now, she didn't want to face the wrath of the 2 older digidestined.

"Besides, we still have to demolish the Control Spire my evil twin set up." Cody said.

"Yes, the tower is well protected and our help will be needed." Izzy typed, preparing the Digi-Port. Unbeknownst to them, that said _evil twin_ was lurking inside an electrical outlet, watching the digidestined.

"**If you think my tower is your only problem, you better think again, Binky-boy**." XANA-Cody thought, inside his hiding place.

"Digi-Port open!" Yolei shouted. It was time to act! XANA-Cody quickly exited the electrical out let and grabbed onto Tai's foot. Even if the heroes saw him it was too late to stop it. The heroes and the Polymorphic Specter were transported to the Digital World.

_In the Digital World…_

"Hey look!" Kari pointed to a TV lying on the floor. The monitor turned on and a group composed by children, teenagers, digimon and a clone appeared. Aelita was the first to notice two '_Codys_'.

"Guys, look out!" she shouted. XANA-Cody quickly turned into a smoke Specter and floated above the heroes.

"It's him! That's the guy who kidnapped us!" Matt pointed at the dark cloud.

"Well, it's time for some pay back!" Gabumon growled. Like Agumon, they had reached rookie level when the crossed to their World.

"**You think you won? Well, guess again. It's time for round 2**" XANA-Cody hissed.

"Newsflash! We beat you, XANA. TK and Kari are safe and we only have to deal with your clone." Ulrich said, unsheathing his twin _katanas_.

"**Have you ever seen _Labyrinth_?**" the Specter asked, bluntly. "**I hope you have, otherwise you won't last two seconds."**

With that, the Specter dove into the ground, like it was made of water.

"What did he meant by that?" Cody asked.

"_Guys! I'm detecting some strange activity. XANA is using that Specter to mess with the tectonic of your location._" Izzy's concerned voice boomed from the sky.

"What is he gonna do? Cause earthquakes?" Yolei asked. Right then, the earth began to shake.

"Great job, Yolei" Hawkmon sighed. The earthquake was weak, but strong enough to separate everybody. When the group was dispersed, the earth began to rise. Walls of dirt and stone rise up between the humans and digimon. Tall walls that formed paths, dead ends, crossroads…a maze. The heroes were separated in 4 groups: Tai, Agumon, Matt, Yolei, Hawkmon and Armadillomon. The second group was Gabumon, Cody, Aelita, Odd and William

"_We've got a problem. XANA has created a maze. And I'm afraid you are the lab rats! There's only one way out._" Izzy said.

"Izzy, can you tell where each one of us is?" Tai asked.

"_Yes_. _I see 4 groups. Tai, Matt, Yolei, Hawkmon and Armadillomon are close by the north border of the maze. South from where they are is Gabumon, Cody, Aelita, Odd and William. In the south border of the maze there's Yumi, Gatomon, Patamon and Ulrich. TK and Kari are right in the centre, facing a dead end."_

"Oh, come on, give me a break!" Tai growled, exasperated. "We just got those two saved and now XANA has them where he wants them, again!"

"TK! Gabumon! Can you hear me?" Matt shouted, hopping the others could hear him.

"Armadillomon!" Cody shouted, trying to reach his partner.

"_It's no use. The walls are soundproofed, indestructible and have some sort of energy field on the top. There's no point in trying to demolish them or flying over them."_ Izzy instructed. "_Looks like I'll have to guide you_."

"Well, how hard can that be?" Yolei asked.

"_A bit hard. Some of the doorways open and close at will_." Izzy instructed. "_TK, you and Kari should stay where you are. Tai and company go through that corridor and turn to the right. Yumi, you and your group go ahead! Aelita go though the way in your left and when you find another crossroad, turn to the right. You'll find TK and Kari, there."_

The teams did as the red-head instructed, but it wasn't long before a red alert beeped.

"_XANA is sending his troops. Watch out!"_ Izzy warned. In that same second, one Yūjo-Megatank was materialized in front of each group. The metal –all-like monsters began rolled out after their enemies.

"_Oh, no! TK and Kari run!"_ Izzy shouted. The other groups could at least give a fight. TK and Kari were the only group who had no Digimon, nor Lyoko Warrior. Kari and TK were trapped into a dead end, with a giant iron rolling ball coming for them.

"What's happening to them?" Gatomon asked, running on four legs.

"_TK and Kari are trapped in a dead end and a Megatank is about to run them over!_"

"Looks like this is it, Kari." TK sighed, embracing his girlfriend.

Suddenly, the dead end opened, revealing a crossroad. TK wasted no time in running away with Kari on his hand. When they passed to the new compartment, the entrance closed and the Megatank hit the wall.

"We're safe!" Kari announced.

"Why would XANA opened the door for us? If he's the one controlling this maze…" TK was interrupted by Izzy panicking voice:

"_TK, Kari, get out of there! Behind you!_" the two digidestined turned around, to be face to face with the Scyphozoa.

"Not good!" they gasped. TK looked around, but all other exits were closing. XANA had led them purposely into a trap. Something caught TK's eyes. One of the doors was just beginning to close, but when they reached it, they wouldn't be able to jump over it. Only one thing occurred to TK. He quickly hugged Kari and kissed her in the forehead.

"Good bye, Kari." the blond picked the confused girl and thrown her over the closing door. Kari passed through tight in the last second. The last thing she saw was TK been grabbed by the brainwashing monster.

"TK, no!" she screamed.

"_Oh, no! The Scyphozoa just caught TK."_

"TK!" Matt screamed his lungs out, punching the walls with no avail.

"Hold on, TK!" Patamon shrieked, firing Air shots at the wall, also with no result. But there was nothing that could be done. Everyone their own battles and several indestructible walls separating them from the Digidestined of Hope.

"Izzy! How long does TK has left?" Matt asked hysterically. Izzy's next words made Matt's heart stop beating (figuratively):

"_It's…too late_." Izzy's defeated voice sounded as terrible as a death sentence in everybody's ears. The walls began to sink into the ground. When the maze was gone, a solitaire figure stood in the middle.

TK was dressed in a gray jumpsuit, his chest covered by a dark blue breastplate. The breastplate had a golden XANAfied version of the Crest of Hope. He had black gloves, each one marked with the same symbol. TK's weapons were two twin-bladed _kataras_. His shoulders had protections made of a thick orange fabric. He had orange belt made of the same material. The belt had on each side, a sheath for his _kataras_. His footwear was thick and black boots. Each boot had a sharp blade raised up. He was, all in all, an imitation of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen from _Hellboy_.

**(A.N.: I have TK's XANA Avatar on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

The heroes looked at him completely horrified. It was hard to tell which of the three was in greatest shock: Kari, Patamon or TK. Kari, whit her face shedding tears took a step forward:

"TK?" she called. TK looked at her with cold eyes and said a single word:

"Despair!" immediately, Digimon, Digidestined and Lyoko Warriors fell on their knees. Suddenly all hope they had of defeating XANA disappeared. It was useless to fight him. Their very essence was been consumed by despair that it actually hurt.

A chuckle broke the newest XANA Warrior's concentration, which made the heroes recover from that attack. XANA-Cody was back and his face showed like his birth day had come earlier.

"**Now that we have what we want, you can leave**." the Specter instructed and TK left, disappearing in thin air. XANA-Cody then turned to the distressed humans and digimon "**Looks like you've lost once again. But don't worry. I assure you Master XANA will put TK's talents to good use.**"

Cody furious with the lost of his friend and DNA Digivolution partner stood up against his copy:

"Why don't you just go back to your Master?" Cody hissed at him.

"**Maybe I will."** the Polymorphic replied. XANA-Cody transformed again into a smoke specter and began to implode, slowly.

"Back…to XANA." Kari thought to herself. What she was thinking was suicide, but if there was a slim chance to get TK back. Kari ran to the imploding Specter.

"Kari? What are you…" Tai asked. But when he realized his sister's intentions, it was too late. Kari touched XANA-Cody and she imploded with him, disappearing from the Digital World.

"Kari? KARI!" Tai screamed.

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

**"_Let's open a casino to celebrate! With blackjack, betting shops and hookers! You know what, forget about the casino. A Strip Club is a better idea! Guess what will your jobs be, boys?" __XANA asked._**

**"_How expected. And by 'expected' I mean 'totally unexpected'." __the AI chuckled._**

**"_Gisaku? What is that?"_**


	22. Ep 21 The Enemy's Hood

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 21: The Enemy's Hood**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Today, we will see how Kari is gonna get herself out of the mess she got herself into. Plus, we will have a hint about XANA's future attacks. Also, XANA will reveal that he's been a busy boy ever since the beginning of season 2.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains genocide!**

_Within the blue heavens of the Digital World…_

Azulongmon, one of the 4 Sovereigns could have felt a chill up his spine, if he had one. He could sense one of the two Sacred Crests, Hope and Light, the crests that were the base of his power had disappeared.

"One of our Sacred Crests has been extinguished. The crest of Hope is gone." Azulongmon sighed. "The New Enemy…"

The four Sovereigns had heard about XANA nearly when he arrived onto this world. Even though they knew he and his minions were nothing but bad news, the Mega Digimon could do nothing. Since XANA had no intention of conquering or destroying the Digital World, the Sovereigns weren't allowed to fight him. XANA's sights were directed only towards the human World.

"But now…Now that he has erased the Crest of Hope, maybe we can help the Digidestined and their new allies on their fight. We can't interfere much, but we can still give it a little push." the enormous behemoth thought aloud, before summoning Gennai. The young man looking non-human appeared and bowed down to Azulongmon.

"How is the research going, Gennai? And the Prophecy made by MoonMilleniummon?" the giant digimon asked.

"Everything is going well, sir. We have tracked down the New Enemy's hiding place and were now trying to find to break through its defenses so we can have access. And we have been investigating the places these Lyoko Warriors visited and interrogated several digimon they had contact with. Our suspicions are right about them. Five of these said digimon may be related to the issue as well. And there's more; the prophecy also spoke about a 'lost soul'. But I don't think we need to worry about it. When the 10 protagonists of the Prophecy are gathered, the 'lost soul' will appear." Gennai reported. "But, we have some bad news. We have detected one of the digidestined was taken to the New Enemy's hood."

"Yes, I know. Young TK has fallen into XANA's power." Azulongmon sighed. Gennai face showed surprise and confused.

"TK? No, sir. This digidestined was not under XANA's control. Its signal simply disappeared from here and reappeared onto XANA's domain. It was Kari Kamyia." the virtual human said. This time, it was Azulongmon time to be surprised and confused. But the emotion that mostly possessed him was panic; if XANA managed to get both the Sacred Crests, then everything would be lost.

"We must act now. Summon the Digidestined and their allies, right now. Time is short!" Azulongmon's voice boomed with concern for the future.

_Meanwhile, in XANA's territory…_

XANA couldn't help but rejoice on his victory. One of the two only Digimon that could stand up against his new soldiers was out of the way. Only one more to go and no more kids would stop him from ruling the Earth. The cloud of smoke that was XANA looked into TK, his newest servant. All the XANA Warriors, plus several Armor-Lobscions and Armor-Tarantulas were gathered there. Besides himself, XANA sensed TK was the most powerful creature in the room.

"_Oh yeah, TK. You're still gonna be very useful to me_." XANA thought. That moment of victory required a celebration.

"**Let's open a casino to celebrate! With blackjack, betting shops and hookers! You know what, forget about the casino. A Strip Club is a better idea! Guess what will your jobs be, boys?**" XANA asked. While TK remained silent and monotonous, like XANA has said nothing, the others gulped and sweatdropped. Lucky for them, a certain Polymorphic Specter just arrived, coming from an entrance in the ceiling. It was XANA-Cody in his specter form. Unexpectedly, a girl appeared along with it; no price guessing who she is.

"The girl?" Davis, Jeremie and Ken exclaimed. TK was the only one not surprised; in fact he hadn't even bothered to look at the intruder. XANA-Cody floated to XANA and merged with his master, becoming a part of him again. XANA was a giant smoke specter, coming from a bottomless pit in the center of the room.

"**How expected. And by 'expected' I mean 'totally unexpected'**." the AI chuckled. Kari stood up and examined her surroundings. On the Armor-Lobscions prepared to shot her, but XANA stopped it.

"**Cease fire!**" XANA demanded. "**Hello Kari and welcome to Sector Gisaku, my home.**"

"Gisaku? What is that?" Kari couldn't avoid asking.

"**When I arrived at this world, I created a virtual world, a replica of Lyoko. The core Sector, correspondent to Sector 5, is this one: Sector Gisaku. Named after the Japanese demon that swallowed the core piece of a mystical key. The four outer Sectors belong to my XANA Warriors. But enough about that, you're the news around here, my precious.**" XANA said in false friendly tone.

"What have you done to TK, you monster?" Kari yelled at XANA.

"He's right here, sweet cheeks." Davis said, pointing at the strongest XANA Warrior in the room. TK's eyes were empty, not carrying the light and hope they usually had. Now, they only had the desire to spread despair.

"You!" Kari turned to XANA, revolted. "How can you have done this? You capture my friends and take their memories, everything that makes them who they are."

"**That's not the only thing I took away from them. Look to your right.**" XANA indicated. Kari did as he said and saw a glass orb floating in midair, at her eye level. The orb had about fifty centimeters diameter. Inside that capsule, five objects were floating. Kari recognized them right away: the Digi-Eggs of Courage, Friendship, Miracles, Kindness and Hope. "**You recognize these objects**."

"How could I not? You have been using them to upgrade your monsters." Kari answered/hissed.

"**Upgrade my monsters? Ah!**" XANA snarled. "**That is nothing compared to what those Digi-Eggs can really do. I always said humans were pathetic and those Digi-eggs prove it. You and your friends have had those treasures in your grasp for so much time and yet you never realized what you had was probably the greatest power ever known to man. It's not just the ability to Armor-Digivolve or make you stronger they possess. Their knowledge is their greatest bonus. If you had that knowledge before, you could have destroyed your previous enemies with a single blink. Children like you don't have the right to play with toys like these.**"

"Knowledge?" Kari questioned.

"**Is there life in other planets? Can you see the future? Is it possible to travel in time? Are there alternative realities? Is Evil alive? Is Good alive? Is it possible to control love, friendship and the inner light of good, transforming them into hatred, jealousy and pure evil? **" XANA asked. "**These Digi-Eggs have proven that the answer to all of those questions and many more is 'Yes'. I always believed that knowledge is power. And, as always, I was right! I have uncovered secrets about the Universe and these Digi-eggs that not even the Digimon Sovereigns have ever dreamed of!**"

"You're bluffing. If that was all true, how come you haven't used that _knowledge_ to wipe us out?"

"**Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Human fool! Because I'm toying with you and your friends. Why using my secret weapons against unworthy enemies, when using some traps and the Scyphozoa is enough. Since you won't live any longer, I'll even tell you something: the Digi-Eggs appear to have minds of their own. I'm not sure, but all of them have their defenses. When I captured Davis, bending the Digi-Eggs of Courage and Friendship to my will was relatively easy, by having the human they chosen under my control. Now the Miracles' wasn't. In fact, I haven't even controlled half of its power and secrets. Why do you think I haven't created any Armor-Monsters with it? But, soon enough, it will fall under my control like the others. The Digi-Egg of Kindness was easy, as well. Now I was supposed to begin my experiments with the Digi-Egg of Hope, when you showed up. But since you're here, you could help me with that matter.**"

XANA formed a tentacle of smoke, which penetrated the glass orb, like it wasn't even there and took the Digi-Egg of Hope. XANA raised the newly attained Digi-Egg, which glittered like gold and transformed into a mighty golden spear.

"**Meet Kibō, the Spear of Hope. Like the Yūki, the Saber of Courage, this weapon was born from the very essence of the Digi-Egg. This spear can fill with hope even the most desperate soul. But it can also take away the hope of the strongest soul, leaving nothing but despair. Consider an honor to die by this weapon. Goodbye, Kari!**"

Kari took an involuntary step back, but stood where she was. The girl wasn't going to give XANA the satisfaction of seeing her running away or pleading for mercy.

"**What's the matter, Binky-girl? Has the fear frozen you where you stand?**" XANA mocked. That made Davis and Jeremie chuckle.

"No, I have no reason to be scared. I know I'll survive this." the girl said. That made XANA laugh even more.

"**And why is that?**"

"Because…I have hope." right after the last word came out of Kari's mouth, Kibō glowed brighter than before. XANA did the unexpected: he screamed. He screamed like Davis and Ken scream when they are hit by Angemon or Angewomon. The tentacle grabbing Kibō began to burn out and XANA dropped the spear, in pain and afraid its power would burn him completely.

"Blitznak, what was that?" Ken asked. Davis took a step towards the spear, but its light also began to injure him, when he approached the golden weapon. Kari picked up Kibō and pointed at the pit where XANA's smoke-body was.

"You want the power of TK's crest so badly? Take it!" Kari tossed Kibō at the pit. An exploding light erupted from the pit, increasing the tone of XANA's screams. The light didn't harm Kari, but it seemed to be hurting the XANA Warriors and the monsters. Something caught Kari's attention; the orb where the other Digi-Eggs were trapped was glowing. Suddenly, the glass broke apart and the four Digi-Eggs exited the room, like shooting stars, by the hole in the ceiling.

In that moment, the armors the monsters had shattered and disintegrated leaving normal monsters behind. The light continued glowing until the screaming XANA sank into the pit. The light stopped and the Digi-Egg of Hope went after the others. The XANA Warriors and monsters in the room were devirtualized. The entire Gisaku and the Dark Sectors seemed to have somehow shut down, now that XANA was unconscious. Everything was quite, like XANA had died. But Kari doubted XANA could die that easily.

"I better get out of here." Kari looked around and saw in the wall behind her a metal door. It was an elevator door. The doors opened and Kari entered, cautiously. "I just hope this takes me out of here."

_In the meantime, in Gennai's castle…_

The distressed digidestined and Lyoko Warriors stood in the meeting room. The most anguished were Tai, Gatomon, Matt and Patamon. Gennai and Hopper (now in human form) entered the room. Aelita wanted nothing more than to finally hug her father, but the time wasn't the best. Cody and Yolei had filled Gennai and Hopper in, including how Kari was 'taken away'. Izzy called Sora and both were now in the room, along with their partners. The news about TK's capture was devastating, since Patamon was one of the two only digimon who could fight the Digidestined XANA Warrior. Not to mention that TK appeared to be more powerful than Ken or Davis; he only needed to pronounce a seven-letter long word to make everybody around lose confidence and will to keep fighting.

"Children, first let me tell you that Kari is alright." Gennai spoke up. That made everybody, especially Tai and Gatomon, to face him with a glitter of hope. Suddenly, Tai stood up and yelled:

"Alright? How can she be alright?"

"Tai calm down." Sora pleaded.

"Listen, Tai. What Kari did was bound to happen. Light and Hope need each other to survive. She was destined to go after TK. But, don't worry, for in the last two minutes XANA learned that even though TK is now on his side, Hope can still be used against him." Gennai explained calmly.

"What do you mean?" Cody asked, but it was Franz Hopper who answered.

"We've been analyzing XANA's activity, ever since we discovered his hiding place. In the last minutes, that activity dropped 90%. It's almost as if XANA had completely disappeared." Hopper last phrase caused some hopeful idea in Aelita's mind:

"Is XANA…dead?" she asked. Hopper shook his head.

"No, but he suffered a great hit. Our guess is that he's now in a recovering hibernation, repairing his damage. Also, Azulongmon and the other Sovereigns sensed the Crests of Courage, Friendship, Miracles, Kindness and Hope recovered some of the power XANA has taken, at the same time he was attacked."

"Speaking of Azulongmon, why hasn't he done anything to help us?" Gatomon hissed, angry. "Just because it isn't the Digital World that is at stake…"

"Azulongmon can do nothing. Since XANA isn't threatening the Digital World, he and the others are not authorized to do anything." Gennai whispered sadly. "But now that the New Enemy has taken one of the two Sacred Crests, he can interfere. He still can't fight XANA directly, since the AI doesn't intend to use the powers of the crests against this world. However, now he can do more than just watch. That's why he summoned you here."

"But, what does this has to do with Kari?" Tai asked exasperatedly.

"Don't you see? It was Kari that caused this. It's because of her that XANA is now almost dead." Gennai announced, which surprised everyone.

"But how did…" Yumi was cut short by Franz Hopper who raised a hand.

"That's not important, for time is short. This hibernation will only last two hours, maybe. Once it's done, XANA will be back in full power with Kari at his mercy." the scientist explained.

"Which is why you must go to Gisaku, XANA's main sector, to rescue Kari and get out go there before he wakes up. Ken, Jeremie, Davis and TK are also out of commotion, so you won't have to worry about them." Gennai said. "This way, we have been working on a way to access XANA's domain. Now that he's hibernating, he can't block our attempt."

The heroes followed the two men. Sora noticed Matt was still crestfallen, as well as Patamon. She put a hand over her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Matt, I know it's not easy, but we have to keep going." the red-head girl whispered gently. Matt didn't listen to her or just pretended. Gabumon poked her in the arm, to get her attention.

"Let him be, Sora. Matt needs time, for now." the rookie whispered. Soon, the gang arrived at a room, with a large Super computer and an even greater metal cylinder. The cylinder was as tall as one of the Scanners, back at the factory but it was large enough to contain at least 20 humans, like a small round room.

"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed.

"What is this? It looks like a Scanner." Yumi wondered.

"It is. Thanks to Franz, we were able to create a replica of your Scanners and the Super Computer." Gennai said, while Franz typed into the computer. The giant Scanner's doors opened. Everybody got inside. The Lyoko Warriors didn't hesitate walking inside the metal cylinder, but the digidestined and digimon weren't so relaxed with the idea. Usually, they travelled through world, via Digi-Port and not by Virtualization.

_In the Dark Ice Sector…_

"_Children, you're in the Dark Ice Sector, Jeremie's domain. Your digivices can still track down Kari. She's in Gisaku, XANA's home Sector. It's South from where you are."_ Franz Hopper's voice said from the black sky. Yolei analyzed the surroundings.

"This looks like that Dark Ocean thing. Only in North Pole style." the crimson haired girl commented. The group looked at South, where they could see a recognizable monolith.

"Is Gisaku that giant red pyramid?" Sora asked. The pyramid, however, had a big opening on the top.

**(A.N.: I have a sketch of Sector Gisaku on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

"_Yes. Once you get to the boarder of the Sector, you'll have to fly to access there._" Franz instructed.

"Roger!" Tai said. His self-pity had taken place to an unmatchable determination of finding his sister. Only Matt was crestfallen and Tai noticed. "Hey…Matt."

The blond looked at the brunette in the eye. Tai wasted no time and punched Matt in the face.

"Hey, what was that for?" Gabumon asked, aggravated. But Matt wasn't. Tai offered his friend a hand to stand up. Smiling, Matt accepted the hand and the group moved towards Gisaku and their friend. Gabumon just stared confused at the paring group.

"What's with humans? Is a punch in the face _supposed_ cheer them up?" the rookie asked. Agumon approached and shock his head:

"Not really. I think it's more the _meaning_ of the punch. I don't know. It must be a human thing."

_Meanwhile, with Kari…_

The Digidestined of Light was anxious to know what was on this level. This was the level right beneath XANA's quarters. When Kari entered, the room was illuminated with a blue light. Several interfaces were turned on the blue walls. The room was similar to the inside of a tower. In the center there was an interface, like the ones in the upper platform of a tower. Kari approached the interface, examining the room.

"I'm sure Izzy would love to see this." Kari commented. Suddenly, the main Interface lighted up, and a file with a familiar picture appeared on it. It was Izzy's picture.

"Izzy?" she asked to no one in particular. Kari read the file; it contained all the information about Izzy. Including a few things Kari didn't even know about her friend. She decided to give another try.

"Matt." she called out and the file about TK's big brother replaced Izzy's. Again, the file had detailed information about the digidestined.

"Wait, maybe this has data on the XANA Warriors and how to defeat them." Kari deduced. "Davis."

And so Davis file appeared, but unlike the others, this one had certain files; video files actually. Curious, Kari touched one of them, which opened in a window showing Davis in his XANA Avatar form. He seemed tired, but had a victorious smile that left Kari nervous.

"_The mission was a complete success. Using the Teleportation program, I arrived in Mexico City by midnight. I used some Yūjo-Blocks to cause some havoc in a deserted part of Mexico City. The girl digidestined Rosa arrived there but she soon learnt, like all the others did, that night is not the time for little children to wander around. Her partner, the rock head Gotsumon was dispatched rather quickly. It was just another Digidestined and digimon who has bite the dust. Davis Out."_

The video window closed but Kari was still nervous.

"What did he mean? Another digidestined and digimon who bite the dust?" Kari wondered a small fear began to grow inside of her. Maybe another search would hold her answer. She only hoped she was wrong. "Digidestined!"

The interface made a new search on the word. Two pastes appeared. One was named Digidestined to Eliminate and the other was Eliminated Digidestined. Kari searched on the first paste and several familiar were there. It was their team, minus TK, Davis and Ken. Willis' name was also there. Kari checked out the other paste and it was then she almost cried out. There were hundreds of names in there, many of them familiar. Lou, Maria, Steve, Tatum, Sam and Michael, from America. Anna, Yuri and Sonya, the Russian Digidestined. Derek, from Australia. The Poi brothers, from Hong Kong. Yuehon, from China. Rosa, from Mexico…

She run through the files, each one of them had the phrase '_status: eliminated_'. What was worse was the every file also had the name of the murderer and many times she saw the names '_Jeremie'_, '_Davis'_ or '_Ken'_.

"Oh, no. This…this can't be!" Kari gasped, with teary eyes. The friends they had made, around the world, all…gone. Their group and Willis were the only ones left…in both worlds! Incapable of taking any more dreadful news, Kari ran back to the lift and descended another level, falling in the floor of the elevator, crying silently.

_Back with the gang…_

The group was riding on the back of Garudamon. They had taken off from the border of the Dark Ice Sector. Their destination was a door in the base of the pyramid of Gisaku.

"Let me handle this." WarGreymon shouted, diving towards the door. "Dramon Killer!"

WarGreymon destroyed the door and the children dismounted Garudamon who reverted back to Byomon and WarGreymon reverted back to Agumon. The group was now in a small compartment which had another door. By the door's left side there was a button.

"It seems like a doorbell." Odd described it. There wasn't much room for the all gang and only Odd, Izzy and William could reach the door. But before anyone could, the door opened and a very distressed Kari appeared.

"Kari!" Tai and Gatomon shouted, the human pushing everyone in his way, while the digimon jumped over everyone's heads. Both hugged Kari, squeezing the life out of her (not literally).

"He…killed them." she whispered, teary.

"What? Kill who?" Tai asked. But the questions would have to be answered later. The whole sector was shaking.

"_Children! Get out of there. XANA is waking up!"_ Franz Hopper's voice yelped. _"You have to return to where you were virtualized, so I can get you back."_

"OK, guys. Party is over." Ulrich said.

_Byomon digivolve to…Birdramon!_

_Birdramon super-digivolve to…Garudamon!_

The children climbed onto Garudamon and the giant bird took off. Sector Gisaku shook even more and deep in the pit on XANA's quarters, the black smoke returned to existence. The entire replica was shaking with XANA's anger.

"**DON'T LET 'EM ESCAPE! KILL 'EM! KILL 'EM ALL!**" the elevator door blew up and an army of flying creature appeared. They were all ordinary Mantas and Hornets.

"XANA's is using ordinary monsters?" William questioned, puzzled.

"I threw a spear XANA made from the Digi-Egg of Hope at him. I thought I had killed him. But at least, he lost all the Digi-Eggs." Kari said.

"So, now we only have to deal with those wannabes!" William said, preparing an Energy Disk which destroyed a Manta. Odd joined him taking down some enemies with Laser Arrows. But there were too many of them.

"I don't think all of them are wannabes. Look!" Yumi pointed to the center of the army. Three individuals were riding on the back of different Mantas: Jeremie, Davis and TK. Ken was a stream of smoke, flying at the same level as the Mantas.

"Let me be of assistance!" Tentomon said.

"Me too." Agumon joined.

_Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!_

_Agumon Warp-digivolve to…WarGreymon!_

_Gabumon Warp-Digivolve to…MetalGarurumon!_

_Gatomon super-digivolve to…Angewomon!_

WarGreymon and Kabuterimon took off, while MetalGarurumon stood on the tail of Garudamon, like William and Odd. Angewomon approached the XANA Warriors. If she could dispatch one at the time, they would be safe. Aelita joined the fight in the air, too.

"Mega-Blaster!"

"Terra Force!"

"Energy Field!"

"Ice Wolf Bite!"

"Laser Arrow!"

"Energy Disk!" the attacks destroyed more Mantas than Hornets, since the insects were more agile than the Mantas. Odd, William and MetalGarurumon could only attack those who got through the first line of defense and came in to close of Garudamon. The Hornets decided to take on the largest target: Kabuterimon. A squad flew around Kabuterimon to distract him, while another squad fired their acid into his eyes:

**(A.N.: Does he even his eyes?)**

"Agh! I can't see!" Kabuterimon de-digivolved into Tentomon, but WarGreymon grabbed the temporary blinded friend.

"These guys are starting to really bug me." Aelita shouted, shooting another couple of Energy Fields.

"I resent that." Tentomon groaned, while WarGreymon delivered him back to Izzy.

Meanwhile, Angewomon was firing constant attacks at the four enemies. She was in advantage because in the air, she was faster and more agile than the Mantas her opponents were ridding. But if he did that, he wouldn't be able to fly. Jeremie went on, passing by Angewomon, going for the other humans.

"Dark Field!" Davis attacked.

"Heaven's Charm!" the cross of light went against the red energy balls and went against the XANA Warrior who fired them. Davis managed to avoid the hit, by turning his Manta to the left. He turned to TK, who so far had done nothing against her.

"Why don't you use that Despair thing to make her stop?" he asked, aggravated. TK turned to him with a killing glare.

"Don't you give me orders you useless bastard!" the newest XANA Warrior roared, angered. He raised his hand towards Davis and the former gogglehead was raised in the air. An unseen force made him twist his neck, devirtualizing Davis right away. Not even Angewomon could prevent been astonished by TK's harshness and mercilessness. Ken was also stunned; he approached his Manta to TK's and shouted.

"What's wrong with you? We're on the same side, you maniac!" that was a big mistake. TK gave the same killing glare.

"Don't you ever talk to me!" TK stabbed Ken with his kataras, devirtualizing him as well. Angewomon felt a chill up her spine; this new XANA Warrior was no doubt the most ruthless and merciless of all.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon shouted, firing an arrow of light. TK blocked by crossing his kataras. Before Angewomon could make another strike, TK's Manta fired against her, distracting her. TK forced his Manta to dive straight to Angewomon. TK stabbed her in the chest and Angewomon fell, de-digivolving into Salamon. Aelita managed to grab Salamon before she hit the ground.

"Despair!" TK shouted. All of the sudden, everyone felt hopeless and their hearts heavy. Everyone bent over, groaning in pain, as if the sorrow they felt was physical too. TK's attack took all hope of survival from them. Even Garudamon stopped flying towards the spot. Unfortunately for XANA, what TK had forgotten was that this attack affected everyone, enemies and allies alike. TK's Manta was also unable to continue and was destroyed. When TK hit the ground and was devirtualized, the pain was gone as well.

"Wow… That was…" Odd gasped.

"Horrible." Patamon said, shaking.

"Let's get out of here, while we still can!" Garudamon shouted.

And so the heroes arrived at the spot where they arrived at that accursed world and Franz Hopper re-materialized them into the Digital World. Back in his quarters, XANA unleashed a scream of pure anger.

_Back in the castle…_

"You sure about that?" Tai asked. Kari nodded, she had tell her friends all about the discoveries XANA made by the Digi-Eggs.

"We had those Digi-Eggs in our hands all this time, and we never discovered anything like that." Izzy sounded annoyed by that. "This is so not prodigious."

"But at least, XANA lost all the Digi-Eggs, right" Sora asked. Kari nodded, once again. But she was still sad.

"There's more, right?" Gatomon asked. Kari felt her heart heavier, not knowing how to spill her next words out.

"XANA … has been … killing them." she cried.

"Killing them? Who?" Agumon asked.

"Kari, if you can't…" Tai said, but Kari refused. She had to tell this.

"The other…digidestined…around the world." Kari sobbed. "XANA used Jeremie… and Ken…and Davis…to kill them."

Everyone gasped. It couldn't be. It was impossible. No enemy they ever faced had done such a thing. Yolei and Sora remembered Sonya, Yuri and Anna, from Russia.

"Wait … you mean…all of them?" the two girls asked, horrified. Kari nodded.

"Willis … is the only one left." Kari sobbed, unable to contain her tears any longer. Cody looked down, shocked:

"_We're the only ones, now._" he thought, dreadfully.

Matt remembered when he went to Mexico with Ken. That little girl, Rosa had a crush on Ken and he might have been to one who…

"_She was just a 9-year-old kid_…" Matt thought bitterly. He looked at Gennai, who seemed as shocked about this as them.

"You didn't know this?" he asked the virtual man. Gennai shook his head.

"Since there had been no trouble in the Digital World, I hadn't contacted the other digidestined. This is a tragedy."

The Lyoko Warriors were observing the conversation. Despite they had never met these other Digidestined, they couldn't stop feeling sad and shocked. Back in their Lyoko days, they always prevented XANA from killing anyone.

"This is nightmare." Odd sighed, unable to make a joke.

"And it will be even worse, if we manage to save Jeremie and the others." Aelita sighed.

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asked.

"How traumatized you think Jeremie, Ken and Davis will be if they learn that XANA forced them into killing other kids?" Aelita asked sadly.

_Back in XANA's quarters…_

"**So much for the Strip Club.**" XANA growled. "**Now that the girl is spilling out my research to the other brats, I'll have to use that research against them. Next time, I'll use the knowledge I took from the Digi-Egg of Miracles and Kindness.**"

**And so it's done the 21st chapter. Don't flame me, please. Anyway, here you have TK's powers:**

**Telekinesis: It's stronger than Yumi's and TK can used without as much concentration as Yumi needs.**

**Despair: It's TK's most powerful attack and it makes people fall into despair, preventing them to fight. Unfortunately, it affects both allies and enemies.**

**Song: TK can use one of his Kataras as a flute. It's music makes enemies drowsy.**

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_**What is evil? Is it an abstract beast, never troubled by desire or limits? Or a carnivorous void, defined by darkness, feasting on the absence of virtue? Is it an unconscious and unaware force whose only purpose is too spread disgrace and misery, senselessly? Or is it the part of the human mind which rejoices in causing sorrow and eradicate all Hope and Light?" XANA paused in his monologue before continuing.**_

"_**Now that I have set you free, in the name of my Master XANA, you own him a service." Davis shouted, so the huge obelisk could hear him.**_

"_**I am THE EVIL!" the entity said.**_

"_**Willis is back!"**_

"_**Willis, this is no joke! XANA has already wiped out every Digidestined besides us! And you're the next on his list." Kari warned.**_

"_**I see that I must show this world to fear me." the behemoth shouted into the sky of Paris.**_

"_**Time to kick things into overdrive!" **__**Rapidmon shouted.**_

"_**The Lyoko Warriors have fallen, sir." the Roberto said.**_


	23. Ep 22 Rebirth of Evil PART I

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 22: Rebirth of Evil PART I**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

** In this episode, XANA chooses to use one of the secrets he discovered in the lost Digi-Eggs. The very essence of Darkness will be unleashed into the world, once again. This episode is based onto Japanese mythology and Samurai Jack. **

**WARNING: This chapter contains character death!**

_Once again, in Azulongmon's domain…_

Azulongmon looked at the sky and the land, on the horizon. The Digital World seemed peaceful and so it was. However, been one of the Sovereigns granted certain powers connected to the nature. The giant dragon god digimon could feel the nature of the Digital World weakened, somewhat emptier. Like something that once was always present isn't here, anymore: the Crest of Hope. Azulongmon turned his attention to Gennai, who had just appeared. The virtual man and his associates had gone to the human world to see if what XANA claimed was true. Gennai seemed like he had live one hundred years in the deepest sadness.

"Sir, we have just returned." Gennai sighed with sorrow. "XANA the New Enemy claims is true. There's no one left but our digidestined and the young Willis in America."

"Then the tragedy is greater than I thought. If the Genocide of the Digidestined is true, than we must act. And the Prophecy is our best chance." with that, Azulongmon extended his sharp clawed hand and took one of his DigiCores. He gave it to Gennai, who nodded.

"I know what I have to do, sir. I'll bring them here, and after that the humans too." Gennai left.

_In Izzy's house…_

"_I checked police reports and newspapers. It's true."_ Izzy mumbled sadly to Mimi. They were communicating through webcam chat. Izzy had just told his girlfriend about TK's capture and what XANA told Kari. "_XANA…_(he couldn't bear to say the word 'kill'_)…wiped them out…all of them_."

Mimi gasped, covering her mouth with both hands in shock. She had heard about Michael's disappearing. But she never thought her friend was…

"I'm going back there." she said determinate, though she was unable to hide a sob on her voice.

_"Mimi, what…"_

"I'm gonna return to Japan. We need the team together if we want to beat this _thing_." she said, saying the last word with a hint of venom. Izzy sighed though he knew she was right. Besides, Joe had also insisted in returning. Now that things are worse than never, they needed all the help they could get. "See ya there, sweetie."

"See ya there, Mimi." Izzy bid goodbye with a slight blush.

The digidestined were about to be gathered.

_In Paris, at the Ishiyama residence…_

The door bell rang and Mrs. Ishiyama opened the door, at 16 o'clock. It was Ulrich Stern, trying to be as polite and possible. The last thing he needed was for Yumi's parents to be against their relation. And he knew Mr. Ishiyama was watching him. However, Yumi mom was much more comprehensive.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Ishiyama. Is Yumi…" he began.

"Yumi, Ulrich is here." she called out. With that, Yumi descended wearing her best outfit. Mrs. Ishiyama left the scene, thinking the coupled could be fine alone.

"Hi, Yumi!" he greeted. Unfortunately, Hiroki also appeared and took a picture of Yumi and Ulrich holding hands.

"Yumi and Ulrich, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he sang, teasingly. Surprisingly, Yumi did not react. She looked at Hiroki and said.

"Yeah, we might do that once in a while." Yumi said, making Ulrich blush and Hiroki pouted.

"I liked it better when you got all mad when I said that." he said going back to his room. But then appeared another Ishiyama: Yumi's father. He may not be against Ulrich's and his daughter's relationship, but as a father, it was his duty to make sure Yumi wasn't dating the _wrong guy_. He pointed at Ulrich with a finger, though it looked more like a knife.

"You hurt her and we will have a violent conversation, young man." his tone was monotonous, but his eyes showed an frightening anger that made the samurai Lyoko Warrior gulp. With that, Mr. Ishiyama left them at the entrance of the house.

"So let's going?" Yumi said, like her father had not just made a death threat to her boyfriend. When they were exiting the house, Ulrich saw a tapestry in the wall. The fabric had a red and black creature whose body beneath the waist was like a snake's. The body above the waist looked humanoid, with huge gargoyle like wings. Its head had demonic features, like, such has hundreds of pointy fangs and yellow lifeless eyes.

"Sorry about dad. He likes you but since you're my boyfriend he has to be overprotective." she apologized.

"It's OK, Yumes." Ulrich decided to change the subject. "Say, what was that thing, in the tapestry in the wall?"

"Oh, that's Akuma, a Japanese demon." Yumi said. "Legends say he's the incarnation of pure evil, but he was sealed away in a _hidden land, across the East sea of Japan_. At least, that's what the myths say."

"And you believe in it?" Ulrich asked.

"No. I mean, it's just a myth, right?"

_Next day, in Gisaku…_

"**What is evil? Is it an abstract beast, never troubled by desire or limits? Or a carnivorous void, defined by darkness, feasting on the absence of virtue? Is it an unconscious and unaware force whose only purpose is too spread disgrace and misery, senselessly? Or is it the part of the human mind which rejoices in causing sorrow and eradicating all Hope and Light?**" XANA paused in his monologue before continuing. "**No. Evil is none of those. Evil is what is now dead and spread beneath the soil of the Earth. But, as everything else, Evil had a beginning.**" XANA paused once again. "**In a distant time, in the long-lost Japan, Evil had a face. Then, a name: Akuma.**** An evil beyond the human's understanding. A sentient Evil and yet thought senselessly, the very essence of everything that is dark: the Ultimate Evil.**"

"**Now I, the all powerful XANA, by the knowledge I ****took from the Digi-Egg of Miracles and Kindness, shall unleash the essence of evil upon my foes.**" with that, XANA summoned Davis. The black and red XANA Warrior appeared.

"**Davis, you have a mission. Go pick up a squad of Blocks and then head to the Virtualization Platform level. You're going to Colorado.**" XANA instructed and Davis grinned.

"So, I'm the one who gets chosen to finish off that Willis guy?"

"**No, you're not going there to kill anyone**." XANA said, which made Davis both confused and disappointed. "**I'm sending you there to set someone free.**"

_Back at the canteen of Odaiba's school…_

"Look at him. He sure is no TK." Kari commented with distaste, looking the Monomorphic Specter of her former boyfriend.

"Well, after Aelita created him, she said his mental waves seemed intensely…erotic." Yoley blushed, not been very used to say the last word.

After they returned from their rescue mission, they immediately created a TK Clone. Next they had Patamon and Demi-Veemon (who had been leaving with TK ever since Davis Clone kicked him out) taken to Kari's and Tai's. They also went to get Minomon from the Ichijouji residence to live with Cody. The group believed it was best that no digimon lived separated from the rest of the group.

TK Clone at first seemed to have a similar personality to Jeremie Clone, but now the group started to notice a few differences: Jeremie Clone was a flirt and TK Clone was a perverted. Right now, said Clone was asking a few Biology question to the top student girl of the class. Though, unbeknownst to her, he was mostly paying attention to the girl's chest.

"Speaking of him, just look at the note he past me in Math class." Yolei took a small paper from her pocket and hand it over to Kari. It read:

_Wanna give some Math, at my place: subtract our cloths, add a bed, divide our legs and multiply._

"This guy is sick!" she hissed, making some of the other students to look at her. Cody leaned forward, trying to see what was wrote but Kari ripped the paper in a million pieces. "Cody, this is inappropriate for your age."

"I'm not a perverted, Kari." Cody whispered, calmly. "But just for the record, I'm not a little kid anymore. I know where babies come from and how they're made."

"I would be astonished if you didn't." Yolei commented, matter-of-factly.

_Meanwhile in Colorado…_

Willis kept walking calmly, surrounded by flowers. He was back at the Colorado. It had become a habit every year coming to the same place Chocomon was infected with that malefic virus. Terriermon was walking by his side. It was unusual for his only partner to be so silent. Willis couldn't tell if that made him relaxed or nervous.

"You miss him, don't you?" Willis asked, though he knew the answer was obvious. He just wanted Terriermon to get out of that _trance_.

"Yeah." the digimon replied. The human knew his digimon was not OK, though he could not blame him. The loss of Chocomon was felt like a punch in the stomach for him, but at least his now late digimon was free from that curse of a virus. And Terriermon was still alive. Willis pulled Terriermon up and placed him on his shoulder with a big smile.

"Don't worry, everything's is gonna be fine." that did cheered Terriermon up a little. However, the strange sound something mechanical spinning rapidly called for their attention.

"Did you hear that?" Terriermon asked, paying attention in case it was a vicious digimon.

"Yeah…it came from there." Willis ran towards a forest. The sound came from the other side of the grove. When they passed through the small forest, Willis stopped suddenly and retreated a little, hiding behind a tree.

"What digimon are those?" Willis asked.

"Don't know. I never saw anything like them." Terriermon answered. At the meadow in front of them, there were eight strange creatures. All of them seemed like digimon. Seven of those creatures were all alike; six tiny crab-like legs holding a large heads shaped like cubes. Each of those _digimon_ had a strange black symbol similar to an eye in each side of the cube. But the most astonishing of them was the unique one in the group. It was a black-skinned humanoid, with a sharp clawed right hand and a sharp taloned left foot. The shoulders were spiked up and the head had four horns. In the middle of the chest, he had a modified red symbol similar the ones the _cube-digimon_ had. Willis had to cover his mouth, for his gasp would have alerted them of their presence, when Willis saw the black digimon's face.

"Is that…" Terriermon began.

"Davis?" Willis finished. The human-digimon(?) looked at the _cube-digimon_ and shouted:

"Watch my back! While I'm breaking the seal I won't be able to stop or defend me. Understood?" the cubes bowed and turned around watching the surroundings, unaware they were been observed. Davis looked at something the Blocks had been digging up: a man-sized black tablet with flamed carved in it. The flame had two red angular cracks for eyes.

Davis closed his eyes and touched the tablet with both hands. The red symbol he had on his chest was now glowing on the tablet. The ritual continued for at least 15 minutes, until something changed. Red sparks began to erupt from the tablet and the eyes of the carved flame began to glow as well. In a matter of second the tablet exploded and a horrifying humungous shadow erupted from its debris. The shadow was as black as Davis skin and it stood as tall as a 30 story building. It began to shape into something even more horrifying. It had no legs, but a snake's tail for legs. Two giant reptilian wings formed on his back. The torso was bulked and massive. The head had several spikes turned back, like spiky black hair. The giant's mouth had hundreds of sharp white teeth and two red glowing eyes. In the presence to two human, six Blocks and one digimon, stood the Seed of Darkness, the Bringer of Sorrow, the Dark Lord of all Malevolence, the Essence of Evil, Akuma.

**(A.N.: If you want a clearer image of Akuma, just picture the body of Diabound from the original ****Yu-Gi-Oh!**** with the head of Gorkan from the movie ****Gisaku****) **

"I'm back!" the god-like monster roared and looked straight at the Blocks and the human who had set him free. Akuma unleashed red flames, pretty much alike Davis', only much hotter and destructive. The Blocks were completely wiped out even before the fire reached them. Davis however managed to escape by jumping back. He laughed watching the destroying Akuma displayed.

"Looks like the legends about you are real. You sure are a killing machine." Davis complimented. Akuma looked at him, questioning himself if he should kill the demon-like human right away or not.

"Now that I have set you free, in the name of my Master XANA, you own him a service." Davis shouted, so the huge obelisk could hear him. "My Master has some enemies: the Lyoko Warriors and the Digidestined. The Lyoko Warriors live in Paris, while the Digidestined live in Odaiba, in your homeland. The service my Master asks for your freedom is their destruction."

Akuma did not respond right away. He stood towering above Davis, looking at the pipsqueak.

"I shall do as your Master asks. But this is just a bargain and not an alliance. If your path or your Master's ever crosses with mine, I shall eliminate you. Unlike you, XANA or any other creature in the universe who follows the Darkness instead of the Light, I'm not evil. I am THE EVIL!" Akuma answered, though that only made Davis grin.

"You sure don't play while you're on duty. Have fun annihilating those dorks." with that, Davis disappeared, turning into a bunch of pixels. Akuma also departed, transforming into a shadow which flew into the sky.

_Back in Izzy's…_

"The Control Spire activated this morning was de-activated even before we could get to the Digital World." the red-head computer genius reported. He and Aelita were communicating through web-cam, as usual.

"_Same here. Did you track the signal of the tower to know what was been used to?_" Aelita asked.

"No…I didn't have time." then a new window popped up in his screen: the Digi Port. "Wait, something is coming. Someone is opening a Digi-Port to here!"

That was all Izzy could say before a blond American boy and a Terriermon came out of the computer and landed on top of Izzy.

"_What_?" Aelita gasped.

"Hello Izzy!" Willis said getting off Izzy.

"Willis, what are you doing here?" Izzy asked.

"I have to warn you guys. Davis…well that guy _looked_ like Davis…set free something called Akuma! And that thing is out to kill you and some Loco Warriors or something."

"Lyoko Warriors." Aelita corrected exasperatedly. Terriermon turned around and said.

"Who is she? Your girlfriend?" Terriermon turned to Izzy.

"Willis, explain that again." Izzy asked and Willis told his story of how he found Davis setting the Ultimate Evil free from its imprisonment and what Davis asked in return for that. Then Izzy made a brief summary of how the Digidestined met the Lyoko Warriors and who their common enemy was. They also told him that XANA had nearly place the name _Digidestined_ on the list of extinct species on the planet.

"_Do you happen to know which group Akuma will attack first?"_ Aelita questioned.

"No idea."

"_I've just read the news. A strange climatic anomaly has just been tracked incoming to Paris. It will reach us in 6 hours. The anomaly was originated in Colorado, about the same time you saw that thing."_ Aelita said.

"Then he's gonna take you out first." Izzy concluded grimly. "I'll call the others right now."

Soon after, everybody was gathered in Izzy's room. Even Tai, Matt and Sora were called. Joe and Mimi were on their way to Odaiba. The Lyoko Warriors were also gathered at the Lab. They were all surprised and glad to see Willis alive. They had told the American what XANA had been doing in the last months around the globe.

"If Akuma is going to Paris, we should go there by the Digital World and wait for him." Tai said.

"There's one problem. XANA has closed every Digi-Port in Paris and the rest of France. The closest I can open is in Andorra." Izzy sighed defeated.

"_We can stall him when he arrives. I'll activate a tower on Lyoko to Teleport us into Paris. That way, we can fight him._" Aelita said.

"Good. We will go through the Digital World to Andorra and then we head to Paris, to give you guys a hand." Kari proposed. Aelita nodded and closed the window.

_In the Lab…_

"We're all set to go." Aelita said, activating a Tower on the Ice Sector. William, Odd and Yumi went to the Scanners first and were virtualized on the Ice Sector. Aelita and Ulrich followed suit.

"I have Akuma's signal on my bracelet. When he arrives, I'll Teleport us to the spot along with our vehicles. We still have about 5 hours before he gets here." the pinkette angel informed.

"5 hours? What are we supposed to do in 5 hours? I didn't even have time to have desert." Odd shrieked. Aelita shrugged. Ulrich looked at his girlfriend who was looking down, in her little world. The samurai walked up to her.

"Yumi, you ok?" the girl just nodded at him. "You don't convince me with that, Yumes. What is your problem?"

"It's just…yesterday, I thought Akuma was just a legend, a bed time story…but now…" she started.

"Now, it's as real as XANA, right?" Ulrich finished. Yumi nodded once again. "Is that what's disturbing you?"

"I think that…if Akuma is real, then so are the myths about him." Yumi sighed. "They say that Akuma is indestructible. That nothing can stand up to him. In fact, he was only sealed away last time because the Order that imprisoned him was very lucky. He is practically a God."

"Yumi, remember when Kari was taken to Gisaku? It was certain death, but she not only managed to survive but she also beat XANA, all alone." Ulrich recalled. "She did all of that because she had hope. We only need to have hope, too."

Yumi smiled a bit at her boyfriend; Ulrich trying to cheer her up was traditional.

"Thanks for the pep talk. Maybe that's why I love you." Yumi whispered. Ulrich smiled back.

"Any time, Yumes. While we wait, you want to see the Ice sector? We never got to see Lyoko when XANA was here." Ulrich invited.

_A while later, in the skies of the Pyreness…_

The Digidestined were now flying in the back of MegaKabuterimon and Garudamon. The children were now crossing the skies of France, but it was still a long way until Paris.

"By this rate, we will never get there in time." Willis said. He glanced at Terriermon.

"Guys, since Rapidmon can fly at incredible speed, he and I could arrive at Paris and help the Lyoko Warriors." the American suggested. That was declined by the entire group.

"No. We need to stay together." Tai retorted.

"That's right. If the tales about that monster are true, we need all the help we can get." Matt said.

"Look guys, you don't need to teach me what it means to be a Digidestined." Willis countered.

"That's right. We've dealt with pretty bad stuff too." Terriermon said.

"But not as bad as this. If this thing is even stronger than XANA." Gatomon hissed.

"Exactly, we need all the help we can get. That goes for Aelita and the others, too." Willis said, grabbing his Digivice. The small gadget begins to glow and shriek. Terriermon immediately digivolved:

_Terriermon Golden-Armor digivolve to…GoldenRapidmon._

The golden version of a flying massive armored rabbit appeared. It was as mighty as when the junior group and Willis faced Cherubimon. Willis climbed on his digivolved partner.

"Willis, this is no joke! XANA has already wiped out every Digidestined besides us! And you're the next on his list." Kari warned.

"I know, but we're digidestined. That means we have to do what is right." the blond said before taking off. The smaller Ultimate flew away like a thunder.

"Willis!" Yolei said but too late.

"I'm sorry guys, but there's no way we can catch up with them." MegaKabuterimon apologized.

"I just hope Willis won't regret this decision, later." Kari sighed.

_5 hours past…_

In Champ de Mars, location of the Eiffel Tower, everything was quiet. A sunny, peaceful afternoon. Until a humungous dark cloud came and blocked out the sun. The citizens of Paris looked up, many of them confused and slightly frightened by the strange climatic event. But that small bit of fear was nothing compared to the panic they felt next. The cloud suddenly transformed and solidified into Akuma, the Bringer of Sorrow. The giant demon roared in a way that would put a dragon to shame.

"I am Akuma, the Seed of Darkness. And this is your Doomsday!" Akuma fired from his mouth a torrent of red flames, incinerating the Champ de Mars. The citizens began to flee the area in chaos. However something hit him in the left eye, causing Akuma to stop his attack. He looked at the direction that the projectile had come. Six humans were now facing him, five of them ridding some strange flying vehicles and one flying thanks to their own wings.

"Hey you big bully!" the pink angel shouted. "XANA sent you here to deal with us."

Akuma growled a chuckle:

"So you are his infamous enemies. I expected something a little stronger." Akuma mocked.

"Energy Field!"

"Laser Arrow!"

"Energy Disk!"

Yumi tossed both her fans at the demon's face, while Ulrich threw one of his _katanas_ like a boomerang, a trick he had been training on Lyoko. All the attacks were meant to the behemoth's face, how didn't even bothered the dodge or block. The impact caused a small explosion and when the smoke cleared, Akuma was grinning:

"Not even a scratch? I'm not surprised." Aelita muttered.

"Pathetic! Now let me show…" Akuma's show was stopped when he growled in pain. Something hit him on his back.

"It's time to kick things into overdrive!" Rapidmon shouted, with Willis on his back.

"Hey, guys! I'm Willis." the newcomer complimented.

"Great! I was thinking we could use some help." Odd mumbled.

"No amount of help will save you, mortals!" Akuma eyes glittered and two laser beams were fired from them. The heroes dodged easily. But while they were preventing from been burned to death, they could not focus on an attack. Except for Rapidmon, whose speed and agility was never easily outmatched.

"Rapid Fire!" the two angry face missiles hit Akuma on his nape making him madder.

"Great shot, Rapidmon!" Willis complimented.

"Thanks, but I think I should put you down. This is getting as ugly as this creep." Rapidmon said.

Akuma soon discovered that trying to smash his enemies was like smacking non-stopping mosquitoes. But he was the incarnation for the Evil; if not even the ancient order that sealed him away could destroy him, then surely this young mortals and their green flying abomination could not.

"I've had enough of this child's play." Akuma wings emitted a red glow. And suddenly the Lyoko Warriors, Willis and Rapidmon stopped in mid air. They were completely paralyzed.

"Hey…what gives?" William questioned. "I can't move."

Akuma turned to Rapidmon and sent a wave of dark energy against him, making the digimon and his partner to crash land into a nearby building.

"Oh, no! Willis!" Aelita cried out. The monster then turned to the Lyoko Warriors. His face showed nothing but cruelty and desire to kill. As much as the young heroes didn't want to admit, that sent a chill up their spines.

"You thought you could defeat me. You believed I was like any other enemy from this world. But you're wrong. I am THE EVIL! And soon this world shall be part of my evil too. Behold my shinning Darkness!" Akuma's body unleashed thousands of black thunders. One of them stroke Odd which dissolved into ash.

"Odd!" the group cried out. The same happened to Yumi, William, Ulrich and last Aelita. With that Akuma roared in victory.

Rapidmon's eyes slowly opened. The citizens had flee from that area, so there was no one around. He stood up uneasily, trying to remember what happened. Willis was with him when that behemoth swatted him away…Wait, Willis!

"Willis! Willis…where are you?" the Ultimate asked/shrieked. He searched in the debris of the building. He finally found Willis but that did not relived him. Willis had several cuts, many of them large and bleeding. His left leg was slightly twisted and a big stream of blood was coming from his forehead. Small pieces of glass were stuck on his gut. Then Willis steered and his eyelids opened slightly:

"Ra…pidmon…" he whispered before collapsing again.

"You're gonna be OK, Willis." Rapidmon said in a panicking tone. Something was off…this time, Willis was not breathing.

"Willis? Willis! Willis, please wake up!" Rapidmon screamed, but it was no use. Willis was gone…gone gone. The Digivice lost in the debris broke apart and dissolved into data. Rapidmon was dead on the inside. His partner was…dead. He could do nothing to protect him. First Chocomon…now Willis. All gone!

The devastated digimon heard a loud roar behind him. He turned around and saw Akuma with his back turned on him, laughing. The guilt and sorrow were replaced by anger…a blind and murderous anger. With a loud war cry, Rapidmon took flight and shot his Rapid Fire against the demon, not stopping in his tracks. Akuma felt the impact on his back and turned around, looking at his incoming enemy. He could see the emotions of loss and thirst for revenge coming from the digimon. That amused him.

"Yes, hate me! You hatred makes me stronger!" Akuma fired his red fire again, incinerating the digimon blinded by rage. Rapidmon's data broke apart. With this, Akuma laughed even louder into the sky. He watched the destruction around him and decided he wanted more.

"I see that I must show this world why it should fear me." the behemoth shouted into the sky of Paris. He climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower and began to burn the rest of the capital to the ground.

_Meanwhile, in Gennai's castle…_

Gennai managed to gather the required digimon at the castle. He went to one of the labs, where their allies, the Lyoko Warriors were been monitored. One of his associates, Roberto announced worriedly:

"The Lyoko Warriors have fallen, sir. And so have the Digidestined Willis, from America and his partner Terriermon."

_In a dark dimension…_

Rapidmon opened his eyes. Or at least, he thought he would. He didn't know if he had any eyelids or even eyes. Around him everything was black. He looked down, trying to look at his feet. But, he had no feet. He had no hands. He had no body. Then he realized the true horror of the situation. He was the in Dark Void. The dimension where the digimon whose data was too much damaged to be reborn ended up.

Rapidmon cried, despite having no eyes and no tears could be shed. He cried for the death of his precious partner. Willis was dead and he was doomed to be alone forever…alone in the darkness…alone forever.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**I know it's sad. But I warned you things would be getting pretty dark, didn't I? Well, don't blame me now and don't flame me. If you want to see this story getting better, then don't flame me. But I won't bring anyone back from the dead, Ok? Not that I hate those characters, mind you.**

**Next time, on Code: Digimon:**

"_**Hope, Courage, Kindness, Friendship and Miracles are nothing against Darkness and Evil." Akuma said, sonorously.**_


	24. Ep 23 Rebirth of Evil PART II

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 23: Rebirth of Evil PART II**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

** This episode marks the Turning Tide in which the hope in our heroes' hearts will give them a power greater than their enemies. However, they will still have to battle and struggle a lot, if they want to see a world rid of Akuma, XANA or any other threat.**

_In the depths of the Ice Sector…_

Ulrich's eyes began to stir and the Samurai regained his senses. It took him a moment to realize what happened and how he ended up in there. Akuma…the fight…Willis and Rapidmon. Despite in Lyoko he didn't get any bruisers or pain (much) he still felt like he was hit by a bus. Ulrich looked around and saw Yumi and his friends lying there.

"Hey, Yumi." he shook the geisha until she began to wake up.

"Ulrich…what happened?"

"That thing knocked us back into Lyoko, I guess." Ulrich answered. Soon everybody else was back on their feet.

"Aelita, can you put us back on the Real World?" William asked.

"What good would that be?" Aelita asked, looking down. "We've already lost."

"No, we haven't." Ulrich said. Yumi, Aelita and Odd seemed to disagree. He could see that in their eyes.

"Guys, come on. We can't give up." William persisted. "There's a lot of people who needs us."

"But can we do something?" Yumi said in a desperate tone.

"It's not like we can do anything. You saw the way that creep tossed us away like rag-dolls." Odd remarked.

"Besides, how do you expect to beat that thing? Akuma is not some lab experiment or some simple XANA attack. He's different, like anything we've ever thought. XANA has finally won." Aelita said.

"Come on, guys. We can't give up. We all thought Kari was gonna die in Gisaku. But she managed to survive and hit XANA. She had hope and so do I." William supported.

"You really think hope can help us? We always had hope that we could beat XANA but look how we ended up. Jeremie, Davis, Ken and TK against us. Willis dead and now we have that behemoth against us. It's over." Odd sighed.

"Well I'm going, anyway." Ulrich said.

"And so am I." William joined.

"You two are nuts." Odd said exasperated.

"You really think hope can make miracles?" Yumi asked William, then turned to Ulrich "And you think been brave and marching to your certain death will make anything better?"

"It's easy to have hope when things are easy. But only the tough situations prove how strong our hope is." William said wisely.

"And I know that charging straight to death is not courage. But I know that I'm not gonna die. We can win this. I know we can." Ulrich said. Yumi closed her eyes for a moment and reopened them, looking at her samurai boyfriend.

"You always were a stubborn dork." she then smiled. "Maybe that's why I like you. I'll go with you."

"Make that four of us." Odd said. "What kind of friend would I be if I let you go alone without my amazing skills?"

The group looked at Aelita. She just kept looking down before gazing back up at her friends.

"You guys are my friends. You and Jeremie were the best thing that ever happened to me. I would be ingrate if I didn't join you now." Aelita spoke with a smile. Right then, five orbs of light descended from the sky of Lyoko. Each light had its own different color: pink, golden, blue, orange and yellow. The lights approached upon the Lyoko Warriors and five voices, one belonging to each light whispered:

"Our blessing so you can face this Darkness."

_Back in Paris…_

Paris was now in total apocalyptic scenario. Half the city was burning, the other half was ravaged. The skies were red from the fire and the air filled with asses and screams. The Army tried to stop the behemoth causing havoc but to no avail. Akuma raised his hands and it began to rain fire over the Notre Dame. The Bringer of Sorrow laughed at the destruction he was causing; he soon wanted more.

Then something caught his senses. Akuma could feel something gaining power. Something…good. Light. Benevolent. Something Akuma despised. The source came from an abandoned building in a small island in the river. However, before Akuma could do anything about it, five beams of light, each of a different color, rose from the building and reached the sky. From the five lightning columns, five humanoid flying creatures appeared and flew at high speed. Akuma stepped out of the way. The creatures stopped and turned around, facing him. It took the giant demon a moment to recognize them:

"You again!"

_Meanwhile, with XANA and pals_…

"**What has happened to them?**" XANA asked, looking at the screen in his quarters. Several Creepers were monitoring the computers in the same room. XANA had a pretty good hunch of what happened to his enemies, but he had to be sure. He turned to the Creepers. "**Analysis**."

"Sir, the readings show the Lyoko Warrior bodies are emitting a familiar radiation. The same radiation emitted by the Digi-eggs of Miracles, Friendship, Kindness, Courage and Hope." one of the Creepers said.

"**Blitznak!**" XANA cursed. Outside of Gisaku, in the Dark Desert Sector Ken was resting in the shadow of a canyon, when he suddenly woke up.

"Weird…For a moment I could swear I heard someone using my catchphrase." the 3rd XANA Warrior mumbled.

_Back in Paris…_

It was true, the Lyoko Warriors were back. But now their Lyoko Avatars were different. The powers of the Digi-eggs XANA had once captured were now with them.

Aelita was wearing an armor which color variedinshadesof pink, yellow and magenta. The armor was similar to the one wore by a Crusaerdramon. However, Aelita still had her pink wings, wearing and elf ears. The Crest of Kindness was resting on her chest armor, forehead, shield and wings.

William was also wearing armor. However, he also had wings now, like an angel. His armor was yellow-golden with several blue sapphires and yellow jewels. His left hand was now an armored vigorouspincer. On his right arm, William had a halberd an axe blade, with a thorn on the back side, topped with a spiked long shaft which glittered like gold. The Crest of Hope was marked on his chest and forehead.

Odd had a jumpsuit, instead of armor. The suit was black but gave him a look of power. Odd's cat ears and purple-hair-stain were still present, but now they were shaped like sparks. Many of his other characteristics were similar to Raidramon's. Like the said digimon, Odd and a yellow horn on his forehead shaped like a spark. Odd's cat tail was also covered in black jump suit. However, the tip of the tail had a bulge, with Raidramon's mask. However, Odd's hands and feet were far more notorious: they had long claws, like an animal's. In fact, the feet were large and animalistic. In each wrist and shoulder he had a thunder like spike pointing out. On his back, Odd had four metal spark shaped spikes like Raidramon's. The spikes were sparkling with electricity, which made him fly. The Crest of Friendship was present on his chest and forehead.

Ulrich was wearing samurai armor. The armor was colored like fire covering an orange fabric. The shoulder and knee plates of armor had a spike, each like a horn of a Flamedramon. Beneath him, there was a small cloud made of fire which was his way of flying. The Crest of Courage was carved in both Ulrich's forehead and his _haidate_ (thigh guard).

Yumi's hair was arranged in old Japanese fashion way and her outfit was the most luminous. It shone like the light of the sun. She was wearing a _kimono_ made of golden fabric. Each hand, covered with a glove of thin silk, had a golden fan with the Crest of Miracles. The sleeves reached her waist, giving her an angelic appearance. Her chest was wrapped in a long yellow lasso. Her aura was what gave her the ability of fly. Like the fans, the lasso and her forehead had the Crest of Miracles.

**(There you have! The greatest art work I've done for this fanfic. I've posted all the five pictures on Deviantart. There's also information about their new powers. ****Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

"Hello, Big-fat-ugly! You missed us?" Odd asked, grinning.

"It is you!" Akuma shouted, truly surprised.

"Yes, we're back." Ulrich said.

"And ready to make you pay for what you did." Yumi hissed. Akuma laughed loudly, amused with their words:

"So you choose to give me another chance to wipe you out instead of hiding? Foolish move, humans." Akuma then eyed the symbols on their new attires. He recognized them as five of the Crests. He then said sonorously "Hope, Courage, Kindness, Friendship and Miracles are nothing against Darkness and Evil."

With that, Akuma prepared to spit out another storm of fire. However, the heroes had already faced that move. The Lyoko Warriors spread out and begin to attack Akuma in different spots. Their plan was hit-and-run attacks, so that the giant demon did not have time to hit them back.

"You think you can harm me with your pathetic weapons?"

"Actually, we do!" Aelita replied and nodded at Yumi. The older girl had to distract Akuma for a few seconds.

"Golden Feat!" Yumi launched her fans at the creatures face. The fans left an after image than gained movement of its own and separated from the original fans. Now instead of 2, Akuma had dozens of fans to contempt with. "This should distract him enough."

Odd, Ulrich and William attacked Akuma from behind all at the same time. William stabbed him with his halberd, Ulrich pierced him with his flaming sword and Odd buried his claws and wrist-spikes on Akuma's flesh. The three strikes may be just little stings to the behemoth, but not when the 3 boys channeled the power of their Crests into Akuma's body.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Akuma scream of pain was heard in the entire devastated city. Those attacks had definitively hurt him. But the pain was nothing compared with the anger. Akuma roared in fury and unleashed another barrage of black thunders from his body. The dark lightning stroke the Lyoko Warriors but nothing happened to them.

"You don't get it, do you? We're all together. We believe in each other and that makes stronger than you and your powers." Yumi shouted.

"You can't harm us, anymore." Aelita said, her body glowing with pink plasma.

"Energy Strike!" she called out and the pin plasma wrapping her body was fired at high speed against Akuma's face. Akuma growled and reached for his face. Then Aelita turned to Ulrich and William who were attacking his torso. "Do it now!"

The samurai and the knight flew higher until they were at the same level as Akuma's face. The demon was still recovering from Aelita's strike. The two Lyoko Warriors went straight into Akuma's face with their blades on the front, like bullets.

"Flaming Courage!" Ulrich shouted and his body and sword erupted in flames.

"Transcendent Hope!" William called out and an aura of gold surrounded his body but mostly focused on his halberd.

Akuma screamed/roared like never before when he felt the immeasurable pain of been stabbed in both eyes. With the enemy blinded, the Lyoko Warriors joined together. The bodies began to glow with the color of their Crests.

"You only exist to destroy everything you find in your way. Pure evil like you has no place in this world." Yumi hissed.

"You kill, you ravage, you destroy without batting an eye." Aelita said.

"You lived for harming other people." Ulrich shouted.

"And that's why you won't live any longer." William supported.

"Say 'goodbye'! Compliments of the Lyoko Warriors." Odd finished. The five glowing Lyoko Warriors flew in Akuma's direction, like bullets. Their luminous bodies leaving a trail of light behind. Akuma summoned all of his negative energy and fired and huge blast against the incoming enemies. However, the dark energy did nothing to stop their approached. The combined lights pierced through the dark light like butter.

"No, this can't be happening! No! NO! NOOOOOOO!" that was Akuma's last word before the five-light strike pierced through his torso, coming out from his back. Akuma's body, with a great hole in the chest, fell backwards, demolishing the Eiffel Tower. Then the body of the dead demon transformed into a shadow and flew out of there, like a shooting start heading to West.

The Lyoko Warriors did not cheered nor celebrated, but their eyes glittered in victory and yet sadness. They had won and prevent the world from destruction. However, many lives were taken away in the process, including the last non-Odaiba Digidestined and his partner. The joy of their victory would come, but for now there were people to morn.

"Return to the Past, now!" Aelita announced.

_A while later…or rather, a while sooner…_

"And then, we used the Crest's power to destroy him." Aelita finished narrating their battle. The group was back in the Super Computer lab.

"And that wasn't pretty." Odd complaint.

"_And then what happened?_" Izzy asked.

"Then, something weird happened. Akuma's body disappeared into the sky. I don't know." the pinkette reported.

"_I scanned the area where Akuma was trapped. Looks like he isn't dead. Akuma is back on his cage."_

"I'm not surprised." Yumi said. Everybody looked at her. "Akuma was pure evil. Something like that can't just be destroyed."

"_Once, TK said it was impossible to completely wipe out the Darkness_." Izzy elucidated. He then sighed sadly "_I already told the others what happened to Willis and Terriermon. How did it go on your side?_"

"The authorities found his body. He was indentified and his parents were notified." Aelita informed silently. The Lyoko Warriors never got to meet Willis properly but the death of another Digidestined was disturbing.

_Meanwhile, in Gisaku_…

XANA and his servants had been observing the battle between the newly improved Lyoko Warriors and Akuma. Usually, XANA would be unpleased that his plans were once again frustrated. But not today.

"You don't seem angry about this defeat." Jeremie opined.

"**No, I am not. Freeing Akuma was a mistake. A grave mistake, indeed**." XANA felt uncomfortable and strange; it wasn't everyday he admitted he had done a mistake. "**I have ignored many variables in this equation. Looks like the secrets I discovered in the Digi-eggs are not to tamper with. Not for now, until I know they're completely safe.**"

"There is no point in having a weapon that you cannot control." TK whispered in a monotonous voice. XANA and the three other XANA Warriors looked at him. Ever since TK joined their cause, he had never talked unless in announcing an attack.

"_Weird. I thought the only word that guy knew was 'despair'."_ Ken thought. "_Though this day itself is weird with the boss regretting launching an attack and all…"_

"What should we do now?" Davis asked.

"**For now, drop the ideas of using the information I learned from the Digi-eggs. I have wasted too much energy on freeing Akuma.**" XANA sighed. "**Only normal Tower-activation attacks, but not today. Tomorrow night yes.**"

"What will we do tomorrow night?" Ken asked.

"**The same thing we'll do every night, Binky-boy.**" XANA replied.

"Try to take over the world, right?" Jeremie smirked.

"**No. Screw our enemies' lives.**" XANA corrected.

**Read and Review please! I hope you liked the fanart of the Lyoko Team new looks. In case you're wondering, they will keep the new powers and attires. I know the fight was kinda short, but since this was the Lyoko Warrior's time to shine, I thought they deserved a fight they could easily win. Next fight will be a longer and more intense. In spite of this twist, the Lyoko Warriors still can't harm the Digidestined XANA Warriors. So wait for the next and last episode of season 2. Here you have their new powers.**

**Aelita****: **

**Energy Strike: Her body is involved in pink plasma which is then fired at the enemy. It's a stronger version of Energy Field;**

**Ultreativity: a more developed Creativity;**

**Time Jump: She can stop time for 10 seconds. However this power drains her energy too much.**

**Yumi****:**

**Regeneration: She glows even more and that light heals and regenerates her allies;**

**Golden Feat: She hurls her fans and the fans' after-image becomes real. Then, the dozens of fans attack the enemy continuously. When she recovers the original fans, the after-image copies disappear;**

**Miraculous Birth: It's not a power Yumi can control. It performs a minor Deus Ex Machina. She doesn't know when this power happens or how can she make something happen. It's pretty much like Odd's future vision.**

**Odd****:**

**Lightning Jolt: His body produces electricity that shocks the enemy.**

**Shocking Nail: his spikes are charged with electricity and when he stings the enemy with them, the electric shock keeps increasing in intensity.**

**Lightning Shurikan: Odd dethatches is four-spike-shurikan from his back and hurls it at the enemy. Until Odd doesn't get the shurikan back, he cannot fly.**

**Ulrich****:**

**Flaming Courage: his sword and body are surrounded by flames. It's kinda like the 'flame on' of the Human Torch.**

**Burning Soul: Ulrich's sword can expel fire in a five meter distance.**

**Extinguished Flame: This power requires a lot of energy. It cancels out any powers in a 10 meter radius, excluding Ulrich's own powers.**

**William****:**

**Transcendent Hope: a golden aura involves him, mostly focused on the halberd. This power is most effective against evil.**

**Exile of the Wicked: the jewels and Crest in his armor glow and that light destroys any kind of possession. However, if the possession is too strong, William must keep the attack which keeps draining his energy.**

**Gate of Destiny: it's just like MagnaAngemon's attack.**

**Next time, on Code Digimon:**

"_It's time you pay your debt, XANA." Davis Clone said._

"_There is a prophecy made by a MoonMilleniummon. That prophecy speaks about 10 saviors and a lost soul." Gennai spoke._

"_You jerk backstabber!" Yolei roared._

"_It is the Light that gives life to this world." Azulongmon stated. "Hope means to preserve your inner Light, no matter how dark the world is."_


	25. Ep 24 Prophecy

**Code: Digimon Season 2**

**Episode 24: Prophecy**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

** Finally, the end of season 2 has come to past. This episode marks the beginning of a partnership many of my readers have been drooling for. Sorry about the drooling part. Just kidding, no offense. The 3****rd**** season' chapters have a complaint paragraph at the end where the characters can criticize the author (that's me). Plus the first chapters will have a song related to the plot. And last but not least, before season 3 begins, I will write a **_**spin**_**-**_**off**_** about Davis, while he is still under XANA's control. In this **_**spin**_**-**_**off**_**, Davis will meet a monk and that will make him change into a different XANA Warrior.**

_In the Digital World…_

Odd's thoughts were wondering about why did Gennai and Franz Hopper had called them in that hour. After beating XANA, which hadn't happened very frequently recently, the Aelita's dad had contacted her daughter. He said he and Gennai needed the Lyoko Warriors on their castle. Odd remembered how the day began whit him and his friends kicking some XANA Warrior butt with their new powers:

_Flashback:_

"_OK, you've got to admit those outfits look kinda cool." Ken said._

"_Which side are you on?" Davis asked frustrated._

_The XANA Warriors along with a squad of Krabs were fighting the Digidestined and Crest powered Lyoko Warriors. While Ankylomon, Aquilamon, Aelita, Odd and Yumi were dealing with the Krabs, Angewomon, Ulrich and William were taking care of the XANA Warriors. Despite the Lyoko Team new powers, they could still not harm the XANAfied Digidestined. However, now they had the upper hand; while the good guys were in the air, the enemies were stuck in the ground for the lack of monsters._

_That morning, XANA decided to grace them with his presence by activating a tower to XANAfie the Odaiba's teachers. Fortunately, everyone managed to get to the Digital World in one piece. Tai, Matt and Sora escaped from danger and were making sure the XANAfied teachers weren't snapping anyone's necks._

_The XANA Warriors were getting frustrated for been incapable of hitting their enemies. If there were any flying Mantas around, they would have a chance. Davis was getting angrier by the second._

"_Dark Field!" he shouted, launching 2 red plasma orbs to the flying _trio.

"_Energy Disk!" the two attack were going straight to them. Ulrich and William stood between Angewomon and the attacks. She was the only one who could beat the XANA Warriors, so they had to make sure she wasn't hit._

"_Burning Soul!" Ulrich's sword expelled a continuum 5 meters column of fire and the samurai began his descend towards them. _

"_Transcendent Hope!" William followed suit. Ulrich's fire consumed Davis and attack and William passed right through Ken's Energy Disk._

"_In coming!" Jeremie called out and the XANA Warriors had no options but to split up and avoid the blow. William and Ulrich stabbed Ken and Davis, _respectively_. However that made no harm to the XANAfied digidestined. TK saw the perfect opportunity._

"_Despai…"_

"_Extinguished Flame!" Ulrich called out and a strange orange flash blasted from him. However, there was no visible effect._

"_Nice move, samurai. Ice!" Jeremie said, pointing his spikes at the William and Ulrich. Nevertheless, no icing rays came from them. "Hey, what the…"_

"_I cancelled out all your powers!" Ulrich said with a grin. He and William took off, leaving the XANA Warriors stupefied. Even TK seemed to show some emotion._

"_Let me handle this now." Angewomon said. "Heaven's Charm!"_

_Angewomon created a cross of light and hit the XANA Warriors before they had time to escape, devirtualizing them. Meanwhile, Aelita was coordinating the other front._

"_Time to end this. Guys, prepared for my sign." Aelita called out. "Time Jump!"_

_Immediately, everything around them stopped. The sound, the movement, everything. Time had stopped except for Aelita, Ankylomon, Aquilamon, Aelita, Odd and Yumi. But that won't last long._

"_Blast Rings!"_

"_Tail Hammer!"_

"_Lightning Shurikan!" Odd hurled the shurikan dethatched from his back._

"_Golden Feat!" Yumi hurled her fans which divided into multiple replicas. The Krabs frozen in time were hit by the attacks. When Aelita's Time Jump wore off, there wasn't a dingle enemy protecting the spire._

"_Energy Strike!" Aelita's attack demolished the red glowing tower and everybody cheered in victory. Before anyone could say anything else, Aelita's start bracelet. It was Franz Hopper who wanted Aelita and her friend in Gennai's castle ASAP._

_End of flashback._

"I just hope it's something really important." Odd muttered in a whisper. "Today we had meatballs with spaghetti."

And so the group kept flying to the castle, unaware that day would change their lives forever.

_Meanwhile, with XANA…_

"**Well there's goes another one.**" XANA muttered. His servants would be returning into the Virtualization platform in not time. Then the sound of something called his attention. He had a call. An interface appeared in front of the moving smoke and a human face with gurundy hair and googles appeared. It was Davis Clone:

"_It's time you pay your debt, XANA." _Davis Clone said.

"**You again? Look, I'm in a tight situation here, Binky-boy.**" XANA muttered.

"_You're always in a tight situation, aren't you? Remember we had a deal._" the Monomorphic Specter frowned.

"**Yes and I can see you help was very useful. As far as I'm concerned, you only helped me gather Ken to my forces. And the other Digidestined are still alive.**" XANA growled. "**Since your help wasn't as nearly as profitable as I wanted, why should I turn you into something that…**"

XANA stopped in his speech. If he had a mouth, he would be slowly smirking. He spoke softly to his 'associate':

"**Fine then, I will keep half of my end of the bargain, for now.**"

"_Half! You better pay the whole part, you…_" Davis Clone was cut off by XANA.

"**If you want the full payment, you will have to use the first half of it to make me a last favor…**"

_Now, in the castle…_

"A prophecy? That's why you made us skipping supper for that?" Odd asked, exasperated.

"Odd, stay!" Yumi scowled.

"I'm not a dog." Odd muttered.

"But, you're a cat." the Japanese girl replied. Then she remembered the transformation Odd undergone by the Digi-Egg of Friendship erase many of his feline traits. "Well…you were."

"So, what is this prophecy so important?" Aelita asked, wanting to end the awkward moment. The Lyoko Warriors were now talking to Gennai alone.

"There is a prophecy made by a MoonMilleniummon. That prophecy speaks about 10 saviors and a lost soul." Gennai spoke. "That would reunite when 5 of the already discovered heroes were ready. I have a recording of the prophet."

The digital man took a cube from his pocket. The cube was made of glittering pixels and a moving holographic picture came out of it. The digimon prophet was some kind of crystal, with a two-headed shadow locked inside it. The shadow had four red eyes, two in each head. One of the heads had a horn; the other possessed two pointy ears. Instead of legs, it had a serpent-like-tail. The hands had small talons. The shadow spoke in a silent voice, though it was perfectly audible:

"_Ten warriors and a lost soul shall be revealed!_

_ After lost and won fights on the battle field,_

_ A journey the first five will embark_

_ After the five marks they have._

_ Inner demons and old shadows on the way._

_ The path is through the Door of the Decay._

_ There they will meet the last five,_

_And the lost soul trying to survive!_

_Together they will join the Digidestined_

_Into a long-awaited war they are burdened!_

_They will fight their archenemy._

_They are the nemesis of the New Enemy!"_

The hologram disappeared leaving the Lyoko Warriors with a mixture of confusion, disbelief and amazement.

"Could you please replay it? I didn't get a thing after the the-five-marks line." Odd said.

"Those first five…they're us, right?" Yumi asked.

"Yes. Everything indicates eyes." Gennai said "We couldn't be sure until the five lost Crests joined you. That was the sign we were waiting for. There's no doubt now; the first five the Prophecy speaks of are you."

"And what about the Door of the Decay part?" William questioned though he knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"It is the door that leads to the darkest parts of our souls. Inside, you'll remember what you must remember to find the last five. And the lost soul."

"What happens after we find them?" Ulrich asks.

"Then Azulongmon will take care of the rest." Gennai said but didn't elaborated.

"So, where is this Door of the Decay?" Aelita asked.

"In this castle. We managed to bring it here." Gennai said. "That is, if you believe in the veracity of the prophecy."

Aelita gave a sideways look to her friends, who looked back at her in the same way. They understood what that meant. If this prophecy was true, this was a chance of balancing the scales they couldn't afford to waste. XANA had grown beyond their powers to fight him.

"We will do it." Aelita announced.

Gennai took the group to a room in the underground levels of the castle. The room was dark, barely illuminated by a single torch and mostly empty. The only things there was a small door, made of iron. The metal was grey and had several black digimon hieroglyphs. The door slowly opened, creaking in the process. The other side was covered in complete darkness.

"And we're supposed to face all of this together?" Odd asked.

"I don't know." Gennai said simply. Aelita nodded to the others and the group nodded back. The Lyoko Warriors went through the door, which closed immediately.

"Oh, just great. Any ideas, princess?" Odd questioned but had no answer. "Aelita? Ulrich? Guys?"

Odd turned around but he heard no one. Not only he couldn't see a thing, but the guys were gone, too. He looked around, despite he couldn't see anything. Then everything was illuminated. It was a sunny day in a park where several small children were playing. Odd tried to hide but too late, one of the kids saw him.

"Hey, wait! This…I'm…" Odd stammered, but the child didn't seem to notice. In fact, nobody seemed to care about him; nobody interacted with him. "Hey, hello!"

No kids answered to his call, as if he wasn't even there. As if he was just a ghost. Some kids began to laugh loudly, which called his attention. The Lyoko Warrior approached the group and gasped. In the middle of the laughing junior squad was a young boy with blond hair and a purple stain in the middle.

"Look at that? Did your mommy painted that for you?" one of the kids mocked the little boy who was actually a younger Odd Della-Robia.

"No." the younger Odd whined with teary eyes. "It's mine…I was born with it."

"You're weird." another kid said. Soon every other kid was picking on little Odd. The memory of that day made the real Odd unusually angry.

"Stop. Stop it, all of you!" the Lyoko Warrior shouted but none listened. Soon, the younger Odd was running away from the park, crying. The older Odd followed him; he didn't want to stay in the park that always brought him those bad memories.

"Hey, wait!" the teenager said to the little kid, feeling somewhat stupid telling his own past-self to wait. Soon, Odd-past stopped by a tree in a lonely street. He leaned on that tree, weeping silently. Odd-present stood there, observing with an unfamiliar serious gaze.

'_That's why I always act up, flirting with random girls whenever I get the chance. I wanted friends who would never turn me down. Friends who would stand up for me. So I would never be alone, again._' Odd-present thought to himself.

A sudden barking sound called both his and Odd-past attention. A small dog approached the crying boy, wagging his tail. Odd-past gave him a slightly scared look.

"Are you here to hurt me, too?" the small boy asked. The dog came closer to little Odd and licked his hand. Odd-past slowly loose his fear and petted the dog. In response, the dog licked Odd's face.

"I'm gonna call you Kiwi." Odd-past said with a smile. The dog then did something strange. He fell on his back, Anime Style, like that name had disturbed him somehow, but quickly recovered. Kiwi accompanied Odd-past home. Odd-present did not follow them. He remembered that day perfectly. The day he met his first friend.

The scenario changed into one of complete darkness. There was a door of light but before Odd could go through the door, a bark was heard. It was Kiwi! But this time, it wasn't a flashback. His dog was really there!

"Kiwi! My little diggidy dog! What are you doing here?" Odd asked surprised but glad to see his first friend. "Doesn't matter. We're getting out of here right now."

Odd picked up his dog and walked through the door of light. He was now at a lake. Which was the same lake where the last Destiny Stone was hidden. Odd looked at his surroundings and saw Yumi, William, Ulrich and Aelita all there at his side. But, the biggest surprise came when he looked at the dog he had on his arms.

_Back on Odaiba's School…_

"Then the stripper asked the other stripper: _'if that's true, why is your hair all spiked up?'_" TK Clone finished telling the joke to Ken Clone. The two Monomorphic Specters were walking in the corridor of the school. Something Ken Clone saw by the corner of his eye caught his attention:

"Hey, _mira_." the Spanish accented boy pointed to a semi-opened door of the Computer Room. Inside they could see Davis Clone speaking to a computer:

"Do you have it?" the Googlehead phony asked and a deep, electronic voice spoke from the computer:

"_Yes, both the key and a data you requested are ready. Just so long you don't forget your end of the bargain."_

"Anyway, I'm going there to finally close the deal." Davis Clone said and transformed into a smoke specter and entered the computer. The two eavesdropping Clones looked at each other.

"We better tell the Digidestined about this." TK Clone suggested but then added. "Of course if the girls go out with me, we will tell them**. **Giggity giggity giggity!"

"Let's just tell them." Ken Clone just rolled his eyes.

_In the Digital World…_

Davis Clone arrived at a barren desert. There was nothing around except one gre glowing Control Spire: his own Control Spire, protected with firewalls that prevent XANA from touching it. But now that the Monomorphic Specter was in that world, he no longer needed the tower to survive. He then communicated with his business partner.

**::I'm here. Do you have it?::**

** ::Yes, I have the data and the key you needed.::**

Two light appeared in front of the clone. One of them transformed into an orb of condensed data and the other turned into a red medal of some sort shaped like the Crest of Pride of the Christian Religion. XANA then spoke:

**::By the way, the tow other clones spotted you and are right now telling to the Digidestined what they eavesdropped. How fitting they are on their way here. It's time you keep your end of the bargain, **_**Davis**_**.::**

** ::Good, I'm looking forward to see them.::**

**::But just to make sure everything goes as planned.::** XANA finished that phrase by creating 9 activated Control Spires and took control of Davis Clone's former tower, making 10 activated towers in the spot.

A few kilometers from there, the young Digidestined plus Tai, Matt, Sora and Mimi are riding on their digimon's backs heading to the zone. Kari talked to her brother, who was riding with Matt on Garurumon.

"Tai, you guys didn't need to come. This isn't even a XANA attack." Kari told her brother, not imagining how wrong she was. Tai and the older group had insisted in staying together, which Kari could understand. XANA captured Davis, Ken and TK when they were separated from the rest of the group and they certainly couldn't afford to lose anymore members.

"Kari, we've already talked about this. Besides I don't trust that Clone as far as I can throw him." Tai said. Izzy's voice sounded from the sky:

"_Guys, the zone where Davis Clone appeared his where his tower is located. Hey, what the…_"

"What's wrong, Izzy?" Mimi asked.

"XANA just activated 10 Control Spires, including Davis Clone's!" Izzy voice said alarmed.

"Great, XANA has joined the party. Now we really gotta go there." Matt said, sarcastically.

"I don't get it, first the Clones start blubbering about Davis Clone going to the Digital World. Next, when we go investigate, XANA dicedes to grace us with his presence." Yolei commented.

The Digidestined were riding on their digimon to the place where the Super Scan detected 10 activated Control Spires. Tai, Matt, Sora and Mimi were going too. They all arrived at the spot, in a barren desert, where 10 red glowing Control Spires were standing tall. Nevertheless, one thing was missing: XANA's welcoming committee. There was nobody guarding the towers.

"What's this? No monsters, no XANA Warriors." Sora questioned.

"Maybe it's a trap. It wouldn't be the first time XANA sets one." Kari suggested.

"But we should take the towers down before anything happens." Cody said but then _something happened_. The activated Control Spires began to sink into the ground, until they were completely buried.

"Well, so much for that." Garurumon commented.

"This is definitely a trap now." Sora said.

"It's not a trap; it's a party of ascension." a voice said. A lonely figure walked on a dune before the party. It was Davis in his regular clothes.

"It's Davis!" Yolei screamed. The digimon quickly put themselves between the Digidestined and the _XANA Warrior_.

"No, not Davis. I'm just the Clone." Davis Clone said with a smirk. The digimon seemed more relaxed though they did not get out of the way.

"Why are you here, anyway? What are you up to?" Yolei asked, suspicious.

"I'm here to keep my end of the bargain. And also to collect the profit for some favors I did for my business partner: XANA."

_With Aelita…_

Aelita kept walking in the void of darkness. The scenario around her seemed like a dead Hell. Only darkness around her, moving in patterns of black and dark grey. One minute she was walking through the Door of Decay, the next she was on this realm of shadows. She continued to walk in the cold space until she came across with a shapeless shadow in her way. She had encountered a few of them before, all of them producing some sort of sound. Some sounded like they were growling, others sounded like they were weeping. This one seemed to belong to the latter group. Also, it looked somewhat familiar, though all those shadows seemed similar, one way or another. Nevertheless, Aelita couldn't stop thinking about this feeling of familiarity. Without thinking a second time, she leaned closer and touched the shadow.

A sudden and overwhelming wave of emotions hit her mind: Sadness, grief and the sensation of mourning. Also some hatred and anger, but nothing compared to the crushing feeling of loneliness and anguish. Furthermore, a single word appeared in Aleita's mind, the entity of the very living being that shadowy conscience had once been:

"Rapidmon…" Aelita whispered. She activated her wings and flew out of there, not bearing the miserable feeling. She flew as fast as she could until she would no longer hear the mental voice of Willis' former Digimon partner.

Aelita landed once she relaxed and kept walking towards the infinitum. It wasn't very long until a new voice began to call out:

"Come…" the voice was female and it sounded hurt and lost.

"Who's there?" Aelita asked, scared for the first time.

"Come…" repeated the voice "I'm…lost."

At first, Aelita considered leaving but then she remembered about one of the lines of the Prophecy: _And the lost soul trying to survive!_ Could that be the lost soul? Aelita decided to take the risk and followed the sound of the calling. She ended up facing a lonely shadow conscience like the previous ones she had met. However, this one seemed to be able to move. Aelita came closer and the shadowy figure approached her:

"You came…"

"Who are you?" Aelita asked. The answer to that question was one of the least she could ever expect:

"I'm…Nat-chan."

_With Ulrich…_

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich was running through the maze of his memories. Or rather, his _bad _memories. Ever since he was born, his father wanted him to be the best.

"If you're not the best at anything, you'll never succeed in life." his dad always told him that. Ulrich didn't want to listen to anything else. He just kept running until he was too tired to keep it up. The Crest powered Samurai stopped; big mistake. The scenario around him morphed, transforming into a replica of his house.

"Oh, good. I never get a break." Ulrich muttered.

"I don't want to play soccer anymore!" a young voice shouted; his own. But he wasn't the one who talked. It was his younger self. That scene happened two weeks before he met Odd, Jeremie, Yumi and Aelita.

"But you will keep playing soccer. You're the best at your school. Besides, you love to play it." Mr. Stern said coldly.

"Not anymore since you forced me to play soccer 24/7!" Ulrich-past yelled. "My friends don't speak to me anymore and I never get time to myself."

Ulrich-present run despite his legs were begging him to stop and rest. When those voices of his past self and his father stopped Ulrich stopped as well. Tired and angry, he shouted.

"Why is my past always annoying me?" his question was answered with a echoing chuckle. Ulrich turned around and saw nothing more nothing less than himself in his old 1st Lyoko Avatar.

"Maybe because you are always trying to run away from it." the Ulrich-past said, with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Ulrich felt somewhat stupid asking that to _himself_.

"I'm your past. I'm the guy you're always trying to run away from." answered the armor-less samurai. "And to tell you the truth, I'm kinda sick of following you. Either you face me now or I'll never leave you alone."

With that, Ulrich-past slashed at Ulrich-present with his sword. Ulrich-present, despite surprised with that, managed to block every attack. Ulrich-past smirked and kept attacking with non-stopping strikes. Ulrich-present wanted to fight back, but something, he didn't know what, prevented him from doing so.

"You're holding back, as usual. You don't want to face the past and that's why I will always haunt you. That's why you keep defending. But if you keep defending, the only thing you'll gain is death." Ulrich-past spoke, while attacking. Ulrich-present failed to block one blow and that proved fatal: Ulrich-past stabbed Ulrich-present in the chest, perforating his torso. The Crest Powered Samurai couldn't avoid vomiting his blood and falling backwards. His past had just killed him.

"And so it ends. The great and determined Ulrich Stern defeated and killed by his past, because he was always too much of a coward to face his past head on." Ulrich-past announced, dramatically.

"Up yours!" the dying samurai said.

"Oh, you still have some fire. Well that will change soon, 'cause as far as I'm concerned, you and I have followed separate ways a long time ago." Ulrich-past whispered. "You wanna know how I beaten you so easily? Because you're afraid of your past, of me. You don't want to talk to dad, because of his '_extend-your-potential-crap'_, so you just ignore him. You always spent time with your friends, 'cause you don't like spending time with your own life. Always been with Yumi, because that's the best thing that has happened in your life. You only live the good things of your life, never wanting to face the bad stuff."

Ulrich-present tried to say something but his current state didn't allow him to. Ulrich-past gave him a disdainful look:

"Oh, sorry. What's that? I didn't hear you. Oh yeah, I forgot; you're too busy dying, Ulrich ." the past-samurai said. "I guess that's more important to you than keep living and make up for your stupidity, hu? Then go ahead, die. I don't care anymore."

"I want…I want…" Ulrich-present mumbled, hardly capable of breathing.

"Yes, you want what?" Ulrich-past asked.

"I want to make it alright…this time." Ulrich-present said.

"Do you? Fine then, one more chance coming up." Ulrich-past snapped his fingers and a set of stairs appeared leading to a lighting exit at the top. "If you want that chance, climb those stairs to the top. I don't care how much it hurts, I don't care how hard it is. If you want to make things better then do it!"

Ulrich' hardly managed to stand up, let alone walk. The pain of his deadly injure was threatening to make him pass out. Ulrich-past seemed to know, because he added.

"And don't you dare to pass out on me. That counts as giving up, and so does dying."

Ulrich-present got to the first stair, then the second then the third…when only two stairswere standing between him and the light, he felt. The pain was too much to stand it.

"I gotta continue…but I can't…not alone." Ulrich whispered, while panting.

"Who says you have to do anything alone?" a voice asks. A hand, covered in a red boxing, glove reached out to help him up. Ulrich took it looking up to the owner of the hand. His vision was much distorted, too much for him to see who was helping him. He could only tell the individual was small.

"Who are you?" Ulrich asked while climbing the last of the stairs.

"Forgot me already?" the short stuff asked. Only then Ulrich understood, when he crossed the light and ended up standing with his friends back in the Digital World. His suspicions about his savior's entity were confirmed when he looked at his left.

_Back with the Digidestined…_

"What?" everyone asked, shocked. Did Davis Clone just say he had been making business with XANA?

"_What's going on?"_ Izzy asked. Davis Clone took two objects from his pockets. The red medal and the orb of data. He showed the orb of data to the heroes.

"This is one of the prices I asked for my help, the data of a specific digimon. The most powerful rookie digimon that ever came to existence." he then showed the red medal. "And this is the Key of Pride, the most powerful of the Seven Sins and the second part I need for my plan. You see, I asked XANA if he wanted help to take you guys down in exchange for these two prices."

"You jerk backstabber!" Yolei roared. "That's why you lured us here, to betray us."

"I'm afraid I already betrayed you a long time ago." Davis Clone smirked.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, fearing the answer.

"Have you ever wondered how XANA managed to captured your most precious friends? You Yollei" Davis Clone looks at the crimson haired girl. "have you never wondered why there was a blackout at your house, when your boyfriend was attacked by the Scyphozoa? I guess your mom forgot to tell you I was there in that day, ready to do as XANA asked me to. **(Episode 17)**"

Yollei gasped, while the others gazed speechless to Davis Clone and then to Yollei.

"And there's more. What about when XANA made those plants trying to eat your dorks for lunch? I was there in that day to make it happen. **(Episode 19) **And last but not least, I was the one who past XANA crucial information that allowed him to capture and XANAfie that TK guy **(not shown)**." Davis Clone laughed at their shocked expressions.

"You!" Matt grunted with a killing glare, upon discovering his little brother was captured because of that Clone. "Izzy and Aelita created you and you choose to backstab us?"

"All for one thing: power. And now that XANA has given to me the first half of that power in advance, he will give me the second half after I kill you all." Davis Clone said and without further conversation, he grasped the two objects in his hands with more force, as their energy began to enter his own body.

"With the data of the rare digimon Lucemon and the Key of Pride" Davis Clone's body began to grow larger, his clothes morphing into black and white ones. From his back, two different sets of wings erupted. Angel on the right side, demon on the left side. "I will soon have the powers of both the Light and the Darkness!"

Once the transformation was complete, the digidestined and digimon were astonished. Where once was the Monomorphic Specter of Davis Motomiya, now was standing **Lucemon Falldown Mode**.

===scene break===

"**And so it begins the end of the Digidestined**." XANA mumbled to himself. He was on his quarters in Sector Gisaku, observing the fight along with his four soldiers. "**I liked the 'the light and the darkness' line he said. Reminds me of my favorite villain from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Rex Goodwin.**"

"Yes, Master XANA." the three older members said, giving a sideways eye-roll.

_Back with Aelita…_

"_Aelita!"_

_ "Mommy! Don't go!"_ Aelita-past screamed seeing Anthea Hopper been taken away by the Men in Black. Aelita witnessed these memories with Nat-chan by her side, though the spirit keep silent during the whole time. The memories kept changing: the day she and her father had to go to Lyoko, when she recovered her memory but she 'lost' her father in the process, when Jeremie was captured,…

"I was…lonely. Before I went to Lyoko, I felt lonely because mommy was no longer there. And I had to stay at home with daddy teaching me. Because of that, I never had any friends at school." Aelita sighed. Nat-chan chose to silently hear. "When the man in black appeared again, daddy and I had to escape to Lyoko. Because of that, I lost my old life on Earth and my dad, though for a while."

Aelita remained silent, reminiscing about what happened next. Jeremie reactivated the Super Computer, she recovered her memory, her father, found her friends. She had a new life and she _technically _owned it to XANA.

"But now, I have a new life, friends, family and I own it to XANA. And to thanks him, I'll make sure he will never harm them." Aelita promised. A door of light appeared and a floating figure was standing.

"That sounds like a strange compensation for the New Enemy have given you a new life, but your motives seem logical." a voice slightly amused said. Aelita recognized the figure immediately:

"It's you!"

"Come." the voice said, extending their hand. "This journey is over. Come, the both of you."

And with that both Aelita and the shadowy Nat-chan crossed into the light.

_Meanwhile, Yumi…_

Yumi witnessed her past right before her eyes. Despite been Japanese, her family had already moved to France when she was born. There, she was raised by the Japanese tradition by her parents, instead of adapting to the French costumes. When she first went to school in Paris, where a two years of sideways look and whispers in her back awaited her.

"Why is she here? Shouldn't she be on Japan?" they said. Others used much worse words:

"That bitch Yuri should take a hike back to her country!"

The reason why they almost never messed with her was because Yumi was a strong girl, known to be stronger than some of the guys. However, she could perfectly hear the other students chit-chatting about her. Nevertheless, Yumi always ignored them. Until one day she reached her breaking-point. One of the jerks came to her, during school.

"Hey, Yuri!"

"Yumi!" she corrected for the 10000th time.

"Whatever. Yuri think fast!"

The jerk threw a rock at her, which hit her in the forehead. It did hurt her, but her tears were more of rage than pain.

"Is that all? If Japanese freaks were as fast as dodging as they're speaking…" his words made her blood explode into her head. Before he could finish the sentence, Yumi launched herself at him and beat him to a pulp.

That day, her parents were summoned to school. They decided to take her out of that school and send her to live with her grandparents in Japan. She couldn't be happier about that. Thought that would soon vanish. Despite been back on her homeland, she was still a stranger. The fact that she lived her first years in France changed her. Instead of treating her like an outsider, her fellow Japanese classmates treated her like a rock: they ignored her.

When she was eleven, she got sick of this and returned to France to live with her parents and little brother, again. There, she felt like an outsider again. Hiroki always speaking French just to annoy her. Her parents now arguing. Her life couldn't get any worse.

'_But that changed… when I met Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd, Aelita and then William. I'm not an outsider anymore.'_ Yumi expressed her feelings more loudly. "I have my friends, my parents, even that twerp Hiroki. I have a reason to move on. First, I wanted to run away from the problem. I ran away from France because everybody hated me. I ran away from Japan because everyone ignored me. But not anymore. I won't run away from anything else."

Then, a door of light opened in the continuous darkness and a tall fury creature stood, reaching out for Yumi. Her voice (yes, the voice was female) sounded glad and relieved:

"You did it, Yumi-sama! Come on, everyone is waiting."

_With William…_

William watched his painful memory. Unlike many people fought, his prank about showing love letter everywhere in his old school was not for fun. It was a mistake that still haunted him. Back then, the rebellious young William was in love with a girl, Alana. But Alana turned down his feelings and to prove he loved her, he pulled that stupid love-letter-idea. Alana was traumatized and humiliated by that. When he had visited her to apologize, her only answer was:

"Go away, you jerk! You already ruined my life!"

William's parents moved him to Kadic, where he met Yumi, Aelita, Odd, Jeremie and Ulrich. He had already moved on from that girl. What troubled him before was that if he found a girl that he truly liked and that girl actually responded those feelings, would he mess things up like he did with Alana? No, he wouldn't, that was no longer a doubt.

"I know who I am and what I want, now." William said.

"Well, it's about time!" a voice grumbled. Right then, a door of light showed up and a small pig-like figure stood there. " Come, everybody else is waiting."

"Wait, I know you." William said. He tried to remember the name of that acquaintance of his. "Tsukaimon?"

"Yeah, now come. Let's go." the digimon muttered. William crossed the door and found himself in the same lake where the digidestined fought against BlackWarGreymon to protect the last Destiny Stone. But what most stunned him was not the fact that his friends were all there, nor the fact that a unknown girl was with Aelita but actually the fact that all of them, except the girl had a digimon with them. Yumi had a tall humanoid purple fox, Ulrich a humanoid blue wolf with boxing gloves, Odd had an actual dog digimon and Aelita had some sort of fairy with her.

"Wha'ts going on here?" Odd questioned, looking at the digimon in his arms. "Kiwi, what happened to you?"

"Not Kiwi anymore. I'm Labramon. I was always a digimon." the dog revealed.

"Wait, that's Kiwi!" Yumi shouted. The purple fox leaned closer to Yumi.

"Yumi-sama, what is happening?"

"I don't know, and please don't call me that, Renardmon." Yumi pleaded.

**(A.N.: Renardmon is a purple Renamon, like Youkomon is the viral version of Kyubimon)**

"Who are you?" the girl asked

"They're friends, Nat-chan." Aelita explained. Before further ado, five light shone in the Lyoko Warriors hands. All of them smaller than their fists. The light gained a material form of five different D-3s. Gasps and stunned expressions were followed.

**(A.N.: Tah-dah! ****I have the Lyoko Warriors D-3s on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

But before anyone could ask a loud roar in the sky was heard. A giant sky-blue snake like dragon was approaching. It was huge. Akuma-like huge. The humungous digimon stood there, looking at them.

"What is that behemoth?" Odd asked.

"I think I know him. That's Azulongmon." Aelita said. The creature talked with a booming deep voice:

"Yes, and how fitting it is for you Lyoko Warriors to be declared Digidestined in the same place where the six previous digidestined found me." Azulongmon said. "As you well pointed out, I am Azulongmon, Guardian of the East."

"What was that prophecy thing all about? Was it suppose to make us Digidestined?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, the prophecy was made when your friend Izzy was possessed **(Episode 16)**, however we didn't had any proof you were the first five. We had been watching your journeys into our World and knew 4 of you had met different digimon. We also knew one of you had a pet who was actually a digimon." Azulongmon gave Odd a sideways look before continuing. "When the five lost Crests, Courage, Friendship, Miracles, Kindness and Hope, chose you to be their carriers, we knew that your five were the first 5 the Prophecy spoke off. We also knew the 5 digimon in question that were the other five. I gave Gennai another of my Digi-Cores to make all of this happen and that is how you are all standing here."

Azulongmon then looked at Nat-chan and replied:

"Also, the lost soul was to be someone who had been supposedly lost forever and that would be reborn to help in this fight. You are prophesized to vanquish the New Enemy, although you will also need the help of the other Digidestined. Nevertheless, you will never succeed if the Chosen of Hope is not set free from the New Enemy's influence."

"But why? What does TK has different from Davis or Ken?" Yumi asked.

"Courage, Friendship, Love, Knowledge…these Crests come from the hearts of the humans who bear them. Hope and Light are different. When the Dark Masters were defeated, it were the Crests of Light and Hope that set me free. It is the Light that gives life to this world. Hope means to preserve your inner Light, no matter how dark the world is. Both Light and Hope are powerful against the Darkness, but when the Darkness is too deep, none of them alone can defeat it."

"In order to save the four souls enslaved by the New Enemy, the two special crests must be united. Hope and Light is the answer. When XANA crossed to this world, his data was mixed with the dark data from the Digital World, defining him as an element of Darkness. His servants can be harmed by separated Light and Hope. But to set them free, Hope and Light must be united. Preserve the Light in your hearts, that is what it means to hold the Crest of Hope. The union of Light and Hope is what makes Miracles happen and gives birth to the light of digivolution."

Azulongmon made a small pause, before continuing. Now was time for the bad news.

"When the New Enemy began the Genocide of the Digidestined, we noticed the power that connected this world with the Human World began to decrease. When we discovered the truth it was too late. Because the number of Digidestined was so limited, it was urgent to create more Digidestined. However, since XANA had not meant to attack the Digital World directly, we could not interfere too much. The Prophecy was the perfect 'excuse' so to speak to act."

"The fact that your five became Lyoko Warriors and that your enemy would cross to our World and you ended up meeting the Digidestined was no coincidence. Your were destined for this. Nevertheless that does not mean you're destined to win this war."

"What? Does that mean XANA will win?" Aelita asked, terrified with the idea.

"No, it just means you're victory is not certain and neither is his. The first step to defeat XANA is to recover the Digidestined of Hope and only Hope and Light can do that. And don't forget that even though XANA no longer has his Digi-eggs, he still took many of their powers. Powers that he will be willing to use against you. You must be very careful."

"No problem, Azulon!" Odd shouted. "We'll keep one eye on this world and one eye on the real World. And we'll keep the other eye on each other."

"Odd, that makes no sense." Aelita said, as the rest of the group sweatdropped.

"I see you've met Davis. Well, goodbye and best of luck on your mission." Azulongmon said, leaving the area.

_Back in the battle_

The battle was in the sky, which was why Ankylomon had to stay in the ground. Plus, he needed to stay there in case Lucemon tried to attack the Digidestined.

"Wing Blade!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Static Force!" the attacks of the tree Ultimates was directed to Lucemon. The fallen angel avoided the attacks by flying quickly towards the attackers. Lucemon punched Garudamon in the beak, making the giant bird digimon fall back. Lucemon then went after Lilimon.

"Dramon Killer!" Wargreymon stopped Lucemon's onslaught.

"So you wanna play too?" Lucemon asked.

"Ice Wolf Bite!" MetalGarurumon roared, firing a barrage of missiles.

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon hurled his giant orb of energy. Both attacks hit Lucemon, who was thrown off and but not down. The evil Ultimate quickly recovered and looked at the two Megas.

"I guess you really wanna play." Lucemon smirked.

"Bring it on!" MetalGarurumon grunted. The other Ultimates closed in the assist the Megas in the fight.

_"Guys, I got in touch with Joe. He and I are on our way."_ Izzy said.

'_I hope their help is not necessary.'_ Tai thought, seeing Lucemon preparing another attack.

"Paradise Lost!" Lucemon began throwing a flurry of punches to Lilimon.

"Lilimon!" Mimi squealed.

"Astral Laser!" Silphymon attack made Lucemon have to interrupt his strike. However, that onslaught had already made Lilimon de-digivolve into Palmon. Garudamon grabbed the plant rookie before she touched the ground and hand her to Mimi.

"One down! Who's next?" Lucemon mocked.

"Terra Tornado!" Wargreymon's attack was frustrated when Lucemon created a shield of shadows and light.

"Nice try, dino-brain!"

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon' breath froze Lucemon's legs and torso. The Fallen angel cursed his luck; they had tricked him!

"Take this, traitor! Terra Force!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Giga Missile!"

"Astral Laser!"

All the attacks stroke Lucemon, shattering the ice. The dark angel cried out in pain. He began falling towards the ground, smoking.

"Yeah! We did it!" the digidestined cheered. Lucemon recovered during his fall and took flight again.

"Maybe not!" Cody said, disappointed. Lucemon rose high up above his enemies and shouted to the skies.

"You will pay for that one, you worthless digi-pets!" Lucemon summoned two orbs, one of shadows and another of light. "Dead or Alive!"

The two orbs formed a capsule that trapped all the flying digimon. Outside, the digidestiend could hear their partners screaming in agony.

"Wargreymon! What's happening?" Tai screamed.

"Your digi-pets are inside my Capsule of Dead or Alive. Once inside, they're wither come out dead or mostly dead." Lucemon laughed maniacally.

The capsule exploded and two Megas, two In-training and one rookie remained. Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon were injured but still had power enough to hold their forms. Salamon, Pyocomon and Poromon fell from the sky and would have crushed had the girls not catch them in time.

"Metalgarurumon, watch out! He's coming for you guys!" Matt shouted and it was true. Lucemon was preparing for a final assault. The two Megas were too hurt they could barely fly, let alone defend themselves.

"Say '_uncle'_." Lucemon grinned, seeing his victory right in front of his eyes.

"Electro Shoker!" a loud deep voice announced. Lucemon was distracted by the electric shock that was stroke at him. It was Kabuterimon and he had Izzy, Joe and Gomamon with him. "Beetle Horn Attack!"

That distracted Lucemon even more, which Wargreymon took, with great effort, the chance to attack:

"Terra Force!" Lucemon was sent flying around against a mountain, semi-unconscious. The strength that took Wargreymon to attack tired him so much that he de-digivolved into Koromon.

"Koromon, you ok?" Tai asked, to which Koromon tiredly nodded.

"Sorry we're late." Joe apologized, as the giant insectoid landed.

"We found the cavalry on our way here." Gomamon announced. The digidestined were stunned to see another 11 individuals also ridding on Kabuterimon. They were the Lyoko Warrior, plus a human girl and 5 digimon.

"Who are they?" Sora asked, looking at the five digimon and the human girl. The Lyoko Warriors showed their newly acquired D-3.

"No." Sora whispered, smiling in disbelief.

"You're…" Kari eyes went wide.

"You bet, sweet cheeks." Odd responded.

"Alright, welcome to the team!" Yolei shouted, gleeful. "I mean, it's not like you weren't already part of the team. You were, but you weren't…sorry, I meant…"

"OK, we got it, Yolei." Yumi smiled. Kari noticed the girl and recognized her:

"Is that…Nat-chan?"

"Yes, she's back and…" Aelita was cut off by Lucemon who was ready to rumble again:

"You didn't forget about me, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, we didn't." Labramon said.

"Everyone ready to beat this creep?" William asked.

"Let's do it!" Ulrich shouted. Right then, the five new D-3 shone.

_Renardmon digivolve to…Youkomon!_

_Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!_

_Tsukaimon digivolve to…Dorugamon!_

_Labramon digivolve to…Siesamon!_

_Lunamon digivolve to…Lekismon!_

"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Wow! Now those are some good addition to the team!" Matt said, watching the five new champions. A purple nine-tailed fox stood by Yumi's side. The blue fierce wolf with a red bandana that served as two supplementary arms was by Ulrich's side. A small mammal-dragon-like digimon ready to battle was accompanied by William. The white and golden lion-dog growled with Odd as his partner. And last but not least the pink kanguru-fairy-like creature stood proudly with Aelita.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! So the Lyoko Warriors brought five Champions with them. I just break three Ultimates and two Megas. I can do the same with you." Lucemon smirked.

"I hate to admit it, but he might be right." Tai said. Only MetalGarurumon was still standing and he wasn't yet ready for another round.

"Well, let me give a hand." Gomamon said.

"You don't have any hands." Joe joked.

_Gomamon digivolve to…Ikkakumon!_

_Ikkakumon super-digivolve to…Zudomon!_

_Kabuterimon super-digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!_

An injured Mega, six Champions, five Lyoko Warriors and one Ultimate now stood against the fallen angel. However there was still a disadvantage; only the Warriors and one of the Champions could actually fly.

"Come at me! Come on, I'm waiting." Lucemon shouted, high above them.

"Guys, let's show him team work!" Aelita said to her team. "Yumi, Ulrich, can you do it?"

"No problem." the Samurai and the _geisha_ nodded. The pairs began using their powers go give Youkomon, Gaogamon, Lekismon and Siesamon the ability to fly and follow their partners. Dorugamon could fly by himself.

"Let's do this." Aelita announced and the 10 Warriors took off. The onlookers on the ground gazed at the newly proclaimed Digidestined and partnered Digimon.

"Shouldn't I go and help them?" MegaKabuterimon asked.

"No. Aelita is planning to bring Lucemon down. When that happens, we can all strike him. Besides, they need a chance to prove themselves as Digidestined." Tai said, like that was the surest thing in the Universe. Matt looked at him, confused:

"How do you know that?"

"Leader intuition. Aelita's plan is writing in her eyes." Tai grinned.

"We're counting on you guys." Kari whispered. She felt someone approaching and looked behind. It was Nat-chan.

"Uh…hello." Nat-chan complimented timidly. Kari replied the compliment.

"Aelita, how can we win this?" Lekismon asked her partner.

"We won't win. Not yet. First we have to stuck Lucemon into the ground so that we can all fight him." the pinkette leader said. "Yumi, you will go first, gives us time to split up. Odd and Siesamon, you will be the distraction. The rest follow my lead."

"Golden Feat!" Yumi shouted and in one second, Lucemon was fencing against multiple fans. That distraction was enough to put everyone in place. Odd and his partner were ready for their part.

"Lightning Jolt!" Odd cried out.

"Sun's Courage!" Siesamon attack. The electricity and yellow light were stopped by a shield of shadows and light. Lucemon grinned, protected by his defense.

"You didn't really think that was gonna work, did you?"

"No, but we're sure _that_ will." Siesamon replied.

"Flaming Courage!"

"Transcendent Hope!"

Lucemon roared in pain when he felt four of his wings, two on each side, been amputated by a flaming sword and a glowing halberd. The fallen angel turned around and saw William and Ulrich behind him.

"You brats! You're gonna pay for…"

"Blazing Sphere!" Youkomon attacked, launching a huge fireball against Lucemon. The enemy dodged but it was noticeable that his movements were slower than before.

"Paradise Lost!" Lucemon approached the fox at high speed, but was stopped by Gaogamon.

"Dash Double Claw!" Gaogamon's attack was too fast that Lucemon didn't even saw him coming.

"Power Metal!" Dorugamon shot a large iron ball.

"Tear Arrow!" Lekismon fired an ice arrow form her forehead antenna. That combined attack didn't hurt Lucemon but it did what it was supposed to; it caught his attention.

"Burning Soul!" Ulrich's sword spat a steam of fire which burned more of Lucemon's wings. That hurt him pretty bad but it also enraged him further.

"Enough! Fallen Disgrace!" Lucemon roared and the Lyoko Warriors and Digimon were soon joined and unable to move. Lucemon summoned an orb of light and shadows. "Dead of Alive!"

The heroes were trapped into the rotating capsule again. Inside, the air was eroding them.

"Oh, no." Mimi squealed.

"Hang on, guys!" Cody cried out.

"Moon Night Kick!" Lekismon tried to break through the capsule, but to no avail. Aelita looked at William and Dorugamon and asked:

"Dorugamon, can you create an orb of iron, around us as shield?" Aelita asked through clenched teeth, due to the pain.

"Yeah, so what?" the digimon replied.

"Do it!" Dorugamon did as she said and soon the corrosive pain stopped. The humans and digimon were all trapped inside the iron sphere. However, the Dead or Alive was now melting through the iron ball and soon would reach them.

"Good thinking, Princess." Odd complimented.

"For now." Dorugamon muttered.

"William, can you use your Door of Destiny?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, but why…" the William understood. "Oh, I get it now."

A few moments later, the Dead or Alive capsule exploded, leaving nothing behind. Everything inside had been utterly annihilated. Lucemon laughed victorious, yelling into the sky.

"And that is what happens when you mess with me! Who else wants to die?"

"How about you turn around, Lucemon?" Tai shouted from the ground. Lucemon looked over his shoulder and his eyes went wide in disbelief and terror. A Door of Destiny formed behind him. The round portal opened and the Lyoko Warrios and their Digimon came out from the door. All of them were right there, practically unscratched.

"No, this can't…How…How did you…"

"Escaped? William created a Door of Destiny while we were inside your capsule. Then we crossed the door…" Aelita began.

"…And once inside, William created another door to take us outside the capsule." Lekismon finished.

"No, this is impossible. Nobody escapes from the Dead or Alive!" Lucemon squealed. "I can't be defeated by some humans and 5 champions."

"Believing that you could was your first mistake. You're stronger than any of us, that's true." Yumi said and Youkomon finished:

"But you stand alone and that was your second mistake!"

"You can't beat me. I have the ultimate power!" Lucemon hissed, preparing two other light and darkness orbs.

"You love that power so much? Well, you can kiss it goodbye!" Ulrich hissed, flying towards Lucemon. "Extinguished Flame!"

The orbs in Lucemon's hands fade away and the angel felt his powers fading away as well.

"What the…my power…is gone!" Lucemon panicked.

"And so are you! Moon Night Kick!" Lekismon came down with a powerful kick that made Lucemon fall from the sky and land hardly on the ground, creating a crater. The heroes on the air began the finishing blow.

"Burning Soul!" Ulrich's katana fired a stream of flames.

"Spiral Blow!" Gaogamon whipped up a tornado from his mouth.

"Energy Strike!" Aelita sent out an energy duplicate of herself.

"Tear Arrow!" Lekismon shot Lucemon with an ice arrow.

"Golden Feat!" Yumi hurled her fans which replicate in multiple copies.

"Evil Flame Dragon!" Youkomon produced a flaming dragon from her tail.

"Lightning Jolt!" Odd used his trademark electric attack.

"Sun's Courage!" Siesamon's mane produced a light equal to the sun.

"Transcendent Hope!" William fired a beam of light form his halberd.

"Cannonball!" Dorugamon created several small iron balls.

All the attacks combined, descending towards Lucemon in the crater. The other digimon used this to give their own help.

"Hammer's Spark!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Ice Wolf Bite!" the two Ultimate and one Mega joined their attacks to the ones coming from the sky. Only one thought was going through Lucemon's head:

'_No, I can't be defeated, least of all by humans!_' the impact of the attack caused a blinding explosion. Everyone covered their eyes and ears, shielding them from the light and the ear-bleeding scream. When it was over, the Lyoko Warriors and their digimon descended to the rest of the group.

"You did it, you guys!" Yolei energetically squealed.

"I guess we should call you 'digidestined' too, from now on." Matt said. The digimon de-digivolved and everyone gathered. Everyone except Nat-chan, which didn't go unnoticed to Aelita.

"Hey, Nat-chan. Come on, join us."

"He is not gone yet. Lucemon is still alive. I can feel it." Nat-chan warned. A shadowy figure raised form the crater; it was Lucemon badly injured but alive.

"You! You think you have won? This isn't over!"

"Give up. You're beaten. It's over for you." Kari shouted.

"Not with more power." Lucemon raised his hands and the land began to shake. The sky darkened and the ten Control Spires who had been previously buried erupted to the surface. The Spires began to glow and disintegrate into dark data.

_Menahwile, in Gisaku…_

"**He's doing it. He's using the second half of the power I promised him.**" XANA said more to himself than to his servants.

"Isn't that dishonest? You promised him the second half after he exterminated the Digidestined." Davis reminded.

"**Tsk! Right now he is fully committed** **in wipe them out, anyway.**"

"But, his data is very unstable with those injuries. He might not be able to control the power." Ken said.

"**We're about to find out.**"

_Back with the Digidestined and Lucemon…_

"That power…too much darkness!" Nat-chan whispered. Kari looked at her. "He won't be able to control it. That power will consume him."

The dark data began to surround Lucemon and enter his body. His face twisted in ecstasy and triumph.

"Ah! Yes! More power… more…" Lucemon expression changed to one confusing and then panicked. "Uh! What! No, stop…it's too much…I can't…"

"What's happening to him?" Cody asked.

"The power is too much for him to handle it. It's beginning to destroy him." Nat-chan said. Lucemon began screaming in pain. The data continued to assemble around him, drowning him into the darkness. Soon, Lucemon was nothing but an orb of shadows.

"Man, is it just me or someone turned on the air conditioner?" Matt asked. The temperature was dropping by the minute.

"It's cold." Joe sighed.

The orb of darkness began reshaping itself into a purple reptilian creature. It grew two strong legs with sharp claws and a tail with some sort of hand on the tip. The arms were also strong, each with a wing attached to it. The arms carried a orb of shadows. In the back, he had 5 more pairs of wings. Finally the head carried a golden crown covering his eyes. The new creature roared towering high above the heroes: **Lucemon Satan Mode**.

"Holy cow! I've seen a lot of huge dragons in my time, but that behemoth definitely takes the cake." Tai gasped.

"And he probably ate it, too." Odd added.

===scene break===

Meanwhile, in Gisaku:

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Lucemon…" Jeremie said, between chuckles. "…eating a cake. Man, that was funny!"

===scene break===

"He's gone. Lucemon is gone." Nat-chan whispered.

"What do you mean?" Kari asked.

"Lucemon is nothing but a mindless beast, now. He's gone." the girl/digimon said.

The crest of the Seven Deadly Sins appeared above Lucemon. That alerted the heroes to skedaddle. Lucemon began to shot down a barrage over the land. It soon became clear he wasn't after the Digidestined. All he wanted was to bring about destruction.

"Nat-chan wasn't kidding. He really lost it." Odd observed when the group stopped running.

"How do we stop him now?" Mimi asked. Yumi observed the rampage Lucemon was going on and muttered in her mind:

'_We have to stop him, but how? We could use a miracle, now!_'

"Ulrich, can't you cut off his powers like you did before?" Aelita asked.

"No, that fight left me wasted." Ulrich sighed and he wasn't the only one. Everyone, human or digimon was too tired to fight.

"But we have to fight." Yumi showed her D-3. "We just got chosen to be Digidestined, when nobody saw it coming. We beat the previous Lucemon and just because he digivolved, that means we can't win, now? Come on, guys. We've been through stuff like this. We've proven to each other that miracles do happen."

As Yumi kept talking, her body began to irradiate a golden light. It wasn't just power. It was life, hope, determination… Suddenly, she knew what to do and how to do. Everyone's D-3s also began to irradiate the same light.

"Hey, Yumes, what gives?" Ulrich gasped.

"What's happening to our D-3s?" Yolei asked. Without warning, Yumi took off and flew straight to Lucemon.

"Yumi!" Ulrich yelled and intended to follow his girlfriend, but Aelita stopped him.

"Wait! Yumi knows what she's doing. Let's give her a little help." Aelita said, holding up her D-3. The device shot a pink beam of light which stroke Yumi, giving her more power. The others followed suite and soon, Yumi was been powered up by beam of multiple colors. Yumi faced the incoming behemoth, who was preparing to fire a barrage of Purgatorial Flames. Silently, but with her voice trembling in power, she announced.

"Miraculous Birth!" her body emanated an even stronger light which stopped Lucemon in his tracks.

"What is Yumi doing?" Kari asked.

"She's performing a Deus Ex Machina!" Aelita shouted.

"WHAT?" everyone else gasped. Yumi screamed, concentrating every last drop of energy she had.

"MAGNA BLAST!" Yumi shouted and her spherical aura grew larger, like a smaller sun, with her as the core. The light consumed the screaming Lucemon. The dark Mega tried to escape but there was no way to avoid his doom. The yellow sphere grew until it completely erased Lucemon Satan Mode. The stunned children and digimon cheered and Ulrich and Renardmon ran to catch the falling Yumi, exhausted from going Deux Ex Machina on Lucemon.

"You did it, Yumi!" Renardmon said.

"No… we did it."

_Later, in the factory…_

"Are you sure we can't celebrate. Come on, we just became digidestined and kick the snot out of who huge-ass dragon digimon." Odd said.

"That's right. We should go eat something, for starters." Labramon agreed.

"Like human, like digimon." Tsukaimon muttered. "Next, you two are getting married to each other."

"Hey! Care to repeat that?" Odd and Labramon shouted.

"Well, a party would be great. Recently, we didn't have made occasions to celebrate. But not today. The only thing I long for now is a bed." Yumi said and it was obvious she could barely stay up.

"Aelita, what about the Davis Clone. How are the guys going to explain his absence?" Ulrich asked, helping Yumi up.

"Daddy is already working on it. The reason why this Clone backstabbed us was because he was too independent. Daddy plans to use a less sophisticate program. The new Clone will be a bit goofy, but at least he will be loyal to us." Aelita said.

"What did you thought about that Nat-chan chick?" Odd questioned.

"She seems very lonely. I understand how she feels, separated from what she loves. That void dimension wasn't very welcoming. Besides, the Prophecy says she is the lost soul. Which means we will need her to defeat XANA."

"Maybe, but that's for tomorrow." William said. Nat-chan was going to live with the digidestined. She was gonna stay for a few days at Kari's and Tai's place.

Aelita looked at the sleeping Lunamon on her arms. "But for now, let's take our new guests to our rooms."

**And so it ends Season 2. I hope you liked how I made the Lyoko Warriors Digidestined. Also, their digimon's personality will be developed in latter chapters. But for now, a basic information: Lunamon is spiritual and talks a bit older than she looks. Also she loves to watch the moon; Tsukaimon is a bit grumpy; Renardmon is extremely polite and timid (unlike the Renamon from Digimon Tammers); Gaomon is an Ulrich-fan, though not an obsessed one. He idolatrizes Ulrich and totally respects him; Labramo is a bit like Odd when it comes to food, though he doesn't go after girls.**

**One last information, since the Lyoko Warriors are digidestined now, they can go to the digital World with their D-3s, but if their do that, they will not have their Lyoko Avatars. Plus, now they are at the same level as the XANA Warriors, because both sides are connected to digimon, but that will only be shown in Season 3.**


	26. OVA: Drabbles

**Code: Digimon**

**OVA: Drabbles**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

** Now, between the end of Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3 I will give you an OVA containing a few drabbles and then a spin-off about Davis changing into a different person. In these OVA Drabbles, Jeremie is free from XANA, but Davis, Ken and TK are not. Plus, the Lyoko Warriors are not digidestined.**

Odd and Ulrich were walking through the corridors of the boy's dorm. It was Saturday, 12 o'clock and as usual Odd was ecstatic to see Rosa's meatballs in his dish.

"You think Rosa will give me an extra dose for me helping her with the cooking?" Odd asked Ulrich.

"And by 'helping with the cooking', you mean eating it, right?" Ulrich asked.

"Hey, I just have a great appetite. I'm not a bottomless pit." Odd retorted offended.

"I'm just saying this for your good. You eat too much." Ulrich said. They were passing through Jeremie's room and planned to tell him to go to lunch. The Einstein was on another working-non-eating season, as usual. When they approached the door to the blond genius' dorm they stopped, earring a boy's voice, Jeremie's voice.

"Ah, it's not easy to put it in. The hole is too small."

"You have to get it to the deepest part." Aelita responded. Both Ulrich and Odd frowned, confused. They leaned closer to the door to hear better the conversation.

"Now, hurry, put your hand inside!" Aelita yelped.

"Can my hand even fit inside?" Jeremie questioned. There was a sound of something moving, trying to get inside of an entrance to small for it.

"It's in! It's in!" Aelita shouted, ecstatic. "Reach as deep as you can!"

Ulrich and Odd quickly pulled back from the door, with their cheeks burning.

"Are they…? They are actually…doing it!" Ulrich whispered in a panicking tone for Aelita and Jeremie not to hear.

"Wow, I usually like this stuff…but Aelita and Jeremie…they're probably the most shy couple in the whole school. And they're too young for this stuff." Odd voice trembled.

"I gotta pull it out, now." Jeremie said.

"No! Don't pull it out! Keep it inside!" Aelita begged/shrieked.

"Mein Goth! Aelita is enjoying this too much for this been her first time." Ulrich gasped.

"You don't need to tell me what to do. It's not like this is the first time we do this. Heck, this must be the seventh time we do this, this week." Jeremie said. Odd and Ulrich had to cover their mouths so no one would hear their screams.

"This isn't Jeremie's first time, either! And they already had it seven times, this week!" Ulrich gasped.

"They sure know how to do it quietly." Odd commented, feeling the heat rising to his head.

"Pull it out, now!" Aelita screamed.

"But…" Jeremie countered.

"NOW!" Aelita shrieked. Then there was the sound of something spraying all over. "Ah, it's spraying on my face!"

By this time, both eavesdroppers were having a nosebleed. Odd and Ulrich could hardly maintain focus. And might as they tried, nothing could prepare Ulrich for what he heard next.

"I wished Yumi was here. She loves drinking this stuff." Aelita said, in a matter-of-factly tone. Ulrich's eyes went wide as his nosebleed grew worse.

"Yumi likes to… drink it!" he would have shouted those words, if Odd hadn't placed his hand over Ulrich's mouth. However, the worst was yet to come.

"This is more fun when it's three people. Last time Yumi joined us, things went much better." Jeremie commented. Ulrich couldn't take it anymore.

"Yumi has been having threesomes with Aelita and Jeremie!" that was all Ulrich could think before he fell back and passed out from a massive nosebleed. Odd continuously slapped Ulrich's face lightly, trying to wake him up but to no avail.

"Come on, Ulrich. Wake up." Odd said, then turned to the door. "Ok, that's it! I'm ending this right now!"

Odd barged in the room, with angry features, thinking he had caught the two little not-so-goody-two-shoes. What he didn't expect was to see both Aelita and Jeremie fully dressed, standing up with clothes covered in a red semi-liquid stuff. That same stuff was on Aelita's face. Plus they were around a small robot with some sort of mechanical arm grasping an empty ketchup bottle. They looked at Odd with questioning looks, while the intruder was looking at them and then at the robot.

"Guys? What?" Odd asked, unable to say anything else.

"We were trying to finish my new robot. It supposed to mix ketchup in your food. We've been working on it the whole week and Yumi helps when she can." Jeremie said.

"But …I heard a few…_sounds_." Odd said, putting an emphasis in the word sounds.

"Well, I was trying to reach the inside of the robot through this hole." Jeremie showed a hole in the machine where his hand could barley fit. "I needed to go there to screw a bolt."

"But then Jeremie's hand was stuck and it activated the mechanism. The robot squeezed the bottle and spread ketchup everywhere, including my face." Aelita added.

"Is something wrong, Odd? You look kinda pale." Jeremie said. And it was true, Odd skin had gained a grey tone. The hyperactive boy said nothing until he passed out right there on the spot.

-drabble 2-

"**Well, that went well.**" XANA mumbled, observing the results of the tests on the Digi-eggs. TK was the only XANA Warrior present with XANA. The evil AI usually kept the most silent XANA Warrior with him. He passed the time talking to TK about his problems, since TK was the only one who didn't seem bored to hear his mumblings. Though TK never seemed bored, angry, tired or anything else…as if he had no emotions. Though XANA knew he had them.

"**I can hear you, you know. The real you. The real TK. Beating at the inside of your skull, just trying to get out.**" XANA then chuckled lightly. "**Amusing that inside a calm, cool and collected XANA Warrior as you there's a screaming raging human, just anxious to tear me apart for what I made him do.**"

"**Your voice is somewhat as loud as when I first assembled Jeremie. But eventually his head became silent. Davis is still shouting in his brain, though not as loud as in the beginning. And Ken, he's almost as quiet as Jeremie. Googleheads are tough to break so I guess it's just natural for him to resist. And you hold the crest of Hope, so it's not unexpected that you're resisting, too.**"

XANA made another paused before changing the subject. He decided to torment the inner-TK a little.

"**You know, there's more than one reason why I caused the Genocide of the Digidestined. The first was because I couldn't risk letting you and your friends contacted them for help. If I came against an army of digidestined, I doubt I would last for more than one week. But the second reason is completely unbeknownst to my enemies.**"

"**Humans connected to digimon and vice-versa are powerful, I admit it. The Digidestined are a strong force. Imagine an army of Digidestined; it would be unstoppable force. Such power is only worthy of been used by me and me alone. It's true that Willis, Rosa, Michael, Catherine and all the others are gone, but not gone forever. Once I exterminate the remaining Crest-Digidestined and the Lyoko Warriors, I will raise the dead Digidestined I hunted down as my elite force of XANA Warriors and generals of my armies that I shall use to conquer Earth!**"

XANA laughing sounded like an echo through the whole sector. In spite of TK been quiet, his mind screamed in panic and horror.

-Drabble 3-

The elevator's door opened and Aelita entered in the Super Computer Lab. Her friends were already awaiting her, all of them staring. She found that strange but looked at Jeremie, who was sitting in the chair. Also, the air seemed somewhat cooler than usual.

"So, what's this meeting for?" Aelita asked but her only answer was everyone else staring at her. "What?"

"Aelita, look at you." Yumi said slowly. The boys' eyes were glued to her body for some reason. Aelita looked down, at her chest and screamed, realizing why she felt cold:

"I'M NAKED!"

Aelita woke up with a scream and sat up in her bed, with sweat covering all of her body. It was a nightmare. Stupid nightmare. The panting pinkette lied back down and stood a few more minutes like that before dozing off again.

In the next morning, she met Yumi at the girl's toilet, before breakfast. There she told Yumi about her nightmare. Or at least, partly the truth:

"…then I arrived at the Lab and noticed that I was completely…" Aelita decided to only tell the necessary truth. "…_unprepared_ for anything."

"I guess you really need a Baku **(Episode 12)**, now. But don't worry, that nightmare was nothing. Now, imagine if you showed up at the factory completely naked." Yumi chuckled a little at this thought. "Then you should be really worried."

Aelita gasped lightly and felt a chill up her spine when Yumi said the word 'naked'. Fortunately for her, her friend didn't seem to have noticed that suspicious reaction.

Later at lunch, Aelita was about to have another disturbing thought. Jeremie, William, Odd and Ulrich joined them. This time, Jeremie wasn't talking about XANA. Odd managed to take the blond genius' mind out of that matter for a while. Instead, they were chatting about what Jeremie should do with the raising in his allowance that his parents were giving him.

"I was thinking about keeping it for my savings. I'm raising money to buy a telescope." Jeremie said.

"Honestly Einstein, is studying everything you think about?" Odd asked.

"Actually, I don't want a telescope for _studying_ anything." Jeremie returned.

"No?" everyone else asked.

"I just want to use it to see the starts. I like to think about what it's out there." Jeremie looked at the ceiling, like he could see the night sky. "It makes you feel naked in front of the Universe."

Aelita choked on a french fry, hearing the word 'naked'. Yumi slapped her lightly in the back. Aelita quickly recovered and left the table before anyone could say anything else.

"Aelita? Where's she going?" William asked. Outside, Aelita took a deep breath and whispered:

"If anyone else says the N word, I will be needing therapy."


	27. Spin off: Road to Peace

**Code: Digimon**

**Spin Off: Road to Peace**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**In this **_**spin**_**-**_**off**_**, Davis will meet a monk and that will make him change into a different XANA Warrior. Also, his XANA Avatar will change as well. This chapter is told in Davis POV.**

_Zhengzhou City, China…_

China…China…China always made me angry. The sun made me angry. The stupid tourists made me angry. Everything made me angry. That's how I am; I hate everything and everyone. Belpois is always mocking everyone, including me. He thinks he is kind of the world. And that TK creep…I still remember when he twisted my neck, the dumb bastard. He can't take an insult, always quiet like he is better than us. And that Ichijouji dork, always like…I don't know, but I still hate him.

Since XANA is not gonna to attack for a while, he let us get out of Lyaku for a little vacation. Icestein and Ichijouji are nowhere to be found, though I'm not their babysitter so I don't care. That creep TK is still on Gisaku. He didn't care about vacation. Sometimes I think he doesn't care about anything.

I was in the crowd walking to I have no idea where. I only came on these 'vacation' to get away from all of those freaks. Also, I wanted to ventilatesome of my frustration for the Lyoko Warriors have gotten stronger. Even after that stupid Clone of mine went Satan Mode he couldn't beat them and their new digimon sidekicks. I was so bored out of my wits that I didn't where I was going: the Shaolin Monastery of Zhengzhou.

"Hey mommy, let's go inside." a pipsqueak whined to her mom. The woman nodded and the two went inside the Monastery. I turned away and walked out of there. The hell I was gonna enter that dump**.** Little did I know by that time, someone walked out of the temple and followed me.

A few minutes of walking, I ended up in an alley. I leaned on a wall to rest. Then a group of thugs showed up and surrounded me. Boy, they didn't know they were in for a lot of pain, if they even touch me.

"Well, well, look who decided to crash in our territory." one of them smirked. I smirked back and looked at the alley.

"So this is your territory? It sure matches your smell." I retorted. They all lost their grinning faces and came closer. One of them even cracked his fists. Here comes the pain; for them that is.

"Do you know who we are, punk?" the 'leader' of the thugs said, grabbing me by my shirt.

"Yeah, I kinda do." I grinned. "You're the guys who need to wash your teeth more often."

"Why you… I'll teach to not mess with me!" the punk raised his fist to punch me, but I grabbed it before it could reach my face. I was so looking forward to break a few necks that I showed them the Eye of XANA in my eyes and my XANAfied voice.

"**Nobody touches me, you hear me? Nobody!**" I was glad that revelation scared them, even if it was just a little. I squeezed his fist, breaking his bones. The bastard screamed. Man, I loved to watch him squirm. The moved him to attack me.

"You small fry!" I grabbed the sucker and tossed in to a fence in the other end of the alley. I did a few more number on the others until they had all passed out. Only the leader was still awake, though not for long.

"**So, you were gonna each me a lesson, hu?**" I said in a murdering tone. The creep was now shaking, grabbing his twisted arm. He must have noticed my eyes, because he trembled:

"Who…What are you?"

I was about to grab his neck and twist it when I felt a hand grabbing my wrist. I turned around, wanting nothing more than to tear to smart guy apart:

"**Alright! Who wants to die?**" the smart guy who had stopped me wasn't one of the thugs. He was an old bald man dressed like some sort of Shaolin Monk. His face had two long mustaches falling down.

"That's enough, kid. It's time to cool off." he said in calm tone. I yanked my arm from his grasp. The thug leader got up and ran away before I could stop him. Great, that old man just made me lose that punk:

"**Hey, he's getting away!**" I was gonna hunt that thug down, but the wrinkled gramps grabbed my wrist in a strong grip, again. "**Let me go!**"

"I said it is time for you to cool off." he repeated. I yanked my arm from his hand again.

"**Oh, yeah. Make me!**"

"Your choice." he said. OK, that does it! I threw him a punch to the face, but he simply grabbed my arm in the process and made a karate number on me by hurling me backwards. I landed on the ground, more stunned than angry.

'_How the heck did he do that?'_ I said in my mind. The old man came closer and said:

"My name is Yue. When you finally decide to let go of that anger, come to the Monastery you saw today."

Needless to say, that was really weird. Well, that dude was really weird. But more than weirded out, I was angry.

'_So that old bag of bones wants a re-match. Cool, I'm looking forward for that!_' I though while trying to stand up. I sure was wrong about that.

I went to that Shaolin Temple to get pay back from that Yueguy. It wasn't difficult to find him. He was in some roomoutdoor meditating. Once again, he beat me faster than I could say 'XANA'. This time, I've lost faster than before. He came to me again and said.

"Go now. Return when you're ready to let go of that rage." he said calmly. I went away, but I swore to come back. It went on and on and on…Each day I returned to a re-match and was beaten pretty easily. The more I lost, the angrier I got and the angrier I got, the more I lose. It had been 7 days since, seven defeats. I took an 8th failed beating session for me to finally came around.

I returned in the 9th day, the day when I finally accepted that I was the one beating myself up and not that Yue. I found Yue on the same place, like he was waiting for me. He looked at me and bowed, like he did every other day. I didn't begin shouting threats like I did during the previous times I went there.

"I…I need help." I said in a low voice. I wasn't used to that quiet tone of voice. Heck, I never asked help from anyone I tried to beat, before.

"What kind of help, Davis?" Yue asked. I had no heck of idea how he found out about my name, and I didn't want to ask.

"I want to…control my anger." I muttered, lowering his head. Yue approached me and said.

"All you had to do was ask. Sit down." I did as he said and we spent the time standing there meditating. I couldn't see why we were just doing that. I just wanted to shout that was a waste of time, but then something said in my mind: '_What if Yue was testing me to see if I really wanted to be better? If I'm gonna learn to hold myself, I need to be patient, right?'_

And so I stood quiet, meditating with Yue. While I thought about why I got myself into that, something clicked in my mind: those two teams of Digidorks! They make me angry enough to kill someone, as everyone else makes me! Why were they always making his life a living hell? Was it is because they didn't like me? Or was because they didn't like what I do? I'm sure it was because they didn't like…Hey, hold on a sec! If that was true, they would only go after me. But they also go after Belpois, Ichijouji and TK. So that means they don't hate me. They just don't like what I do. It's XANA that they hold a grudge against. So that…

"Well, I suppose that's enough improvement for today." Yue whispered. I opened my eyes and saw him standing up, waiting for me to do the same.

"Wait, that's all?" I was dumbfounded. He just spent a heck of a time meditating and he thought that was enough?

"Yes, you may return tomorrow if you wish so. The sun is almost setting." he said looking outside and he was right. It was 17:30! Time sure flies when you stop to think.

"Ok, I guess…Thank you." I said trying to sound polite. Truth is, I was never polite, though I own that to Yue. Man, this is getting weirder; first I ask help from the guy I once wanted to kill, next I thank him.

I got out of the Monastery and headed to nowhere. I didn't need to sleep nor eat and I didn't want to spend the night in the Dark Forest Sector. Walking around all night sounded good enough.

_Next few days…_

Two days…three days…four days…A week has passed and every day was either meditating or watching something quiet and slow happening, like a butterfly getting out a cocoon or drops of dew falling down. I had to admit, that all sounded pretty stupid at first. I couldn't do it without distracting myself, thinking about my life. But one day I realized that maybe that was what Yue wanted. He wanted me to stop raging and to think about why I was so angry.

And to my surprise it was working. They say that when you're old, you either lose it or become smarter. I guess Yue was the latter. He took me under his wing. Taught me to control my anger…and through that, my powers.

The only two things that I still don't get it were: why was I so angry in the first place? And why was Yue helping me? I figured I should ask him about the second question.

"Yue, why did you help me, anyways?"

"Why should I not help you?" he asked back. "My motives are mine to know. But if you think about it for a while, you might figure it out."

This was the lastday I could stay. XANA wanted me back on Lyaku to start a new strategy. I think it involves aliens or something. I bid goodbye to the old man, before going away. I had the weirdest feeling I would never see him again.

_Next morning…_

I managed to sneak into a library, when it opened. The less people were present, the better. I went to a computer isolated from everybody else. I used my D-3 to open the Digital Gate and next second I was in the Digital World. Back to my demon-like form, though I was diferent. I didn't exactly like XANA, or the Digidestined or the other XANA Warriors. But I no longer hated anyone else. Hate and anger were only blind me; Yue taught me that much.

I felt a weird small pain in my head, my claw-hand and my left foot. I could also hear the sound of something cracking. Small fragments of back stuff began to fell from me. My four horns with several cracks fell in the ground like they were never mine. My claw-hand and left foot suffered the same process, leaving me a complete looking human. My hands had some weight, each. I looked at them and saw a strange looking trident on my right hand and a small sword on my left one. There was a river nearby so I approached the water to take a closer look at my new self. The horns, the claw-hand and the demon-foot were gone. My Avatar was now a black jumpsuit, with red lines and my crest on my chest. I had a red face marking below and upper my left eye and a red bandana in by forehead to complete the look.

**(A.N.: I have Davis' new XANA Avatar on Deviantart. Just go to my Profile to find the link, or search in my gallery. My Deviantart name is orichalcosdark.)**

It was obvious. My old self was gone and so was my old look. The Lyoko/XANA Avatars symbolize our personalities. I'm different now and so is my Avatar. I changed thanks to probably the only other human I can call friend. I was reborn.

**I hope you liked my spin-off. Especially Davis fans like **_**pride-viola'kellie.**_** About the change of outfit, Jeremie said in the prequel XANA AWAKENS that the Supercomputer creates an Avatar depending on one's personality. Since Davis' personality has changed, his powers and looks have as well.**

**In other matter, Davis mentioned that XANA's next plan involves aliens. Well, he is not kidding. That's just an idea of XANA's new strategy.**Parte inferior do formulário


	28. Season 3, Ep 25 Shattered Glass

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 25: Shattered Glass**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon/Renardmon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**I'm back for a while longer. Turns out life is still smiling at me. I gotta at least 1 YEAR left to live! Better than that, I might also survive this thing!**

**To celebrate and share my joy with my reviewers, I'm gonna change a few mistakes I made like the plot on this two-part episode. I'm re-uploading this and the next chapter into something totally different. I know the original version was just a bad mixed crossover because of all the rush but this one is simpler and better. It holds a few surprises I'm sure everyone wants to see.**

**One more thing: all episode of Season 3 will have a non-cannon scene at the end. These scenes may or may not be part of the episode. It's a sort of **_**alternate path**_** to keep my readers guessing if the plot will follow that path or not.**

**PS: TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED TO THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD APPRECIATE IF THEY REVIEWED AGAIN IN A GUEST ACCOUNT. JUST TO COMPARE THE TWO VERSIONS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.**

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2084 AD / 82 PC_**(1)**

Emperor Iori 'Cody' Hida was sitting in his throne, of the new Imperial Palace, much humbler than its predecessor. Unlike the old palace, this had a throne room with windows and a good view of the city. The still ruined Tokyo despite Japan's efforts to rebuild.

Even 82 years after the Great Burn, despite Japanese resilience under their Emperor's spiritual guidance, the capital still bore the scars. True, a lot of reconstruction had been made but injuries of the soul were still very present. And they probably would always be…

"Tennō Heika**(2)**." – a voice filled with age greeted. Cody was pulled away from his thoughts to greet the newly arrived ambassador to the USA.

"Hello, Tai." – the sovereign complimented the weary diplomat. – "Take a sit."

The thin 98-year-old man looked more robust than his age could tell. There were no traces of his former giant hairstyle. Only a short grizzly layer of hair remained. His facial features were more wrinkled and tired than Cody's. He had a visible scar that went from his left ear to the top of the left side of his forehead. The scar he had gained in the day of the Great Burn.

Tai proceeded to relay the state of affairs with USA. That country which had been one of the major powers of the 20th century was holding together but who knows for how long.

"And they just had another Mexican raid, though the Mexico government denied any official involvement in that. Also, the President has declared Martial Law to a handful states which are close to falling into anarchy, _again_. Things there are like a powder cake just waiting to go off. If an accident happens…"

"Yes, one more civil war." – Cody nodded solemnly. – "I suppose in the long run we're luckier than most. Japan is still damaged but his holding steady. We're rebuilding in a slow pace."

"And we owe that to you, Cody. You kept our people united for a long time." – Tai smiled for the first time. He then sighed. – "Problem is it's getting the USA a little on edge. They fear we and China will take over the international market."

"Their country is barely holding together and they worry about that?" – Cody questioned shaking his head.

"Money is the life-blood of Human civilization." – Tai half-shrugged with a ghost of a smile. Then his expression became grim. He looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping and asked in a whisper. – "Any luck finding…XANA's little legacy?"

"None. Davis is actually starting to question if they even exist."

"Davis spent too many years marching with a rifle in his hands!" – Tai hissed with a tone of spite. Cody was saddened to ear Tai speak like that of an old friend. But at the end of the life, one either learns to bear all the grief of a lifetime or crumbles.

Cody moved to watch once again Tokyo and Tai followed his gaze. They remained silent for a few minutes until something popped into the ambassador's mind.

"Cody…you said many times that everything is possible. But…" – Tai shook his head. – "It's been 82 years and we're barely any closer to the times of Pre-Burn than we were when we began. You really thing this is ever gonna change?"

"I believe so. Once I was told everything is possible and I believed." – the sovereign replied.

"Told by whom?"

Cody turned to the ambassador and smiled:

"Let me tell you the story of how I met him. I know you already heard it…but there were a few details Odd and I hid the first time."

_File Island beach, Year 2002 AD_

"Sun's Courage!"

"Lightning Jolt!" – Odd's and Siesamon's joined attack annihilating the three Tarantulas. – "He zaps, he scores!"

The beach of File Island was the scenario of a battle. That morning the superscan had picked up a Control Spire activated near the beach. Odd and Cody were the only ones available. Ken and Jeremie were guarding the tower which put the only present Lyoko Warrior outnumbered.

"Super Smoke!" – Ken teleported away. Jeremie created a big ice spear but before he could throw it at Odd…

"Rock Cracking!" – Digmon's crack stretched until it caught Jeremie's foot and the evil genius mishurled it and stroke Ken instead.

**(A.N.: Is 'mishurl' even a word?)**

"Ouch! Watch it, _Jackass_ Frost!" – the swordsman roared. Jeremie just clenched his teeth in answer.

"Lightning Shurikan!" – Odd hurled his own spiked-wings gear at the tower. Ken supersmoked between it and the tower and blocked the attack with his sword.

"Nice try!" – Ken sneered with a grin. Odd grinned back at him.

"Gold Rush!" – Digmon, who had sneaked up behind them, fired and demolished the Control Spire.

"Can you spell perfect distraction, boys?" – Odd winked. With both XANA Warriors retreated.

"Great job you guys." – Cody said, having watched the whole thing from the sidelines.

"I'm guessing XANA is getting senile." – Siesamon mused. – "Only putting three monsters and two of his boys guarding a tower, without even having time to launch an attack on Earth?"

"_Or maybe he didn't put much effort in it because this isn't his _real _attack?"_ – suggested Aelita.

"C'mon princess. You're getting too serious. Just because Einstein just hit the road doesn't mean you have to repla…" – Odd shut himself up but too late; the damage was done. Aelita didn't responded but they could tell the girl was depressed over the mention of Jeremie.

"Anyways," – Cody tried to change the subject. – "there's nothing else for us to do here. Let's go!"

"Yeah, this fight made me hungry!" – Armadillomon sighed.

"Me too!" – Labramon and Odd joined in.

Cody pointed his D-3 at the monitor. While all that happened, Ken hadn't yet returned to XANA's base. He was watching the two heroes from a distance. His anger grew by just watching Odd, the one who had foiled their attack.

"Eat this, Della-Robia!" – Ken fired one of his Energy Disks by swirling his massive sword. The attack hit the trio right in the nanosecond Cody, Armadillomon, Odd and Labramon were been sucked by the TV set. The explosion was that resulted could be heard and seen from miles away.

_Somewhere else…_

Cody steered before opening his eyes. His pupils took a moment to adapt the light. He was in a barren, smooth landscape and he was not alone. Armadillomon, Odd and Labramon were all lying around him.

"Hey, Armadillomon. Guys wake up." – he shook his partner who moaned before waking up:

"What a nap…why do I feel like barfing?"

Odd and Labramon were the next to be back on their feet. The most noticeable fact was that Odd's avatar was gone. Finally the foursome began asking themselves and each other a very pertinent question:

"Where are we?"

"Say guys, doesn't this kinda look like the Digital World?" – Labramon mused, taking in their surroundings. The desert did seem from the Digital World for some reason.

"_Strange. I could swear I'm getting a _déjà vu._ I've been here before."_ – Cody thought.

An explosion stopped his train of thought. A mushroom of smoke erupted from a canyon to their north.

"Wow! What was that?" – Armadillomon shouted.

"Maybe we should go investigate?" – Cody suggested. Usually he didn't like to make dangerous decision like that. Whatever lie at the site of the burst could be an enemy. But not knowing where you are may tip you to make more curious decisions.

"Alright!" – Odd launched himself in the air only to fall on the ground face-first.

"Odd, your avatar is gone. You can't fly here." – Labramon sighed in his face. Odd scowled at his luck:

"OK, fine! We'll run to the spot."

What they saw after they ran (or in Odd and Labramon's case, raced) to the edge of the canyon, Cody immediately recognized the abyss from one of his previous adventures.

"A Destiny Stone!" – Cody recalled the perfectly carved marine-blue stone that once gave Patamon the power to digivolve into MagnaAngemon to fight BlackWargreymon.

"And that's not all." – Odd added. Deep down in the bottom of the canyon, there were unknown entities having a fight. Whether they were digimon or humans it was hard to tall from that latitude. But the most notorious was that the fight was occurring between two landmarks: the Destiny Stone and a Control Spire.

Another blast called their attention back to the fight. There were three fighters involved. One seemed to be protecting the Stone, as he had his back turned to it and faced the two aggressor. The guardian of the stone received another blow and was tossed against a faint dome of light surrounding the stone.

"What's that?" – Labramon asked.

"Some kind of barrier to protect the Destiny Stone." – Cody elucidated.

"That guy's not handing himself very good. Let's go!" – Odd would have leaped into the abyss to join the fight, hadn't his friends tackled him into the ground.

"Odd, you can't fly!" – Cody reminded him.

"Oh…yeah! Thanks a lot guys…otherwise…yeah." – Odd chuckled nervously. He looked at the abyss and gulped.

"Still, we should go help protect the Destiny Stone." – Armadillomon said.

"Wait, look at the Control Spire. There's something guarding it."

Cody pointed not an obelisk but rather at the two shadowy creatures guarding it. They looked like humanoid winged creatures made of coal. They had neither face nor other features to distinguish them from each other.

"XANA's new monsters?"

"I don't think so. They have no symbol." – Cody retorted.

"And they don't look like any digimon I've ever seen." – Armadillomon added.

Then things turned for the worse. The guardian was knocked out and the two aggressors were turning their attention to the Destiny Stone. They started firing projectiles from their weapons against the energy shield. The barrier was holding but small cracks were forming from the constant impacts.

"OK, enough chatting. More action!" – Odd decided and this time nobody stopped him. With the Destiny Stone in harm's way, there was no time to make assumptions of lengthy decision.

_Armadillomon armor-digivolve to…Digmon, the drill of Power._

_Labramon digivolve to…Siesamon_

The two Digimon landed on the bottom of the abyss carrying their partners. The attackers were two humanoid hooded figures. One was firing dark darts through two crossbows while the other fired energy through a trident.

"Sun's Courage!"

"Gold Rush!"

The attacks caught the two distracted hooded ones unaware . Odd and Cody went to help the fallen protector. The two hooded ones were surprised but quickly got over it and retaliated. The one with the two crossbows was taller and sounded teenager and male. The other holding the trident was shorter, more slender and female. Though Cody couldn't see their faces, their voices sounded familiar.

"Yo, buddy! You okay?" – Odd tried to shake the protector awake. Now Cody finally took in his appearance. The protector was a teenager the same age as Odd. Blond short hair except with a mohawk, muscular, with a robust and strong appearance. He had two piercings, one above his left eye and other on his chin. The neck had a skull with two crossed pistols tattooed. For weapons he had two twin guns.

His outfit appeared to be some kind of Lyoko avatar. Dark blue with red highlights. On his back he carried a sort of metallic backpack with some other fire weapons. All in all, he seemed like a cross between Tron and Billy the Kid. Cody's gaze stopped at the symbol in his chest.

"Odd, doesn't his face look familiar?"

Just then the boy woke up from Odd's shakes with a start. He looked at the other blond with a raised eyebrow, staring at the hairstyle and purple stain.

"What are you? Some Dragon Ball scrawny fanboy reject?"

"Hey!" – Odd scowled. – "Not scrawny. Svelte!"

"Odd, look at his chest!" – Cody warned. And there was on the blond punk's outfit the Eye of XANA. But before the two digidestined could have reacted, the punk beat them to it.

"CODY, YOU BASTARD!" – the gunman pointed both weapons at Cody but Odd tackled him before he could pull the trigger.

"You're with XANA, aren't you buddy?" – Odd demanded, tackling the shooter down.

Cody heard Digmon's cry of pain and rushed to his de-digivolving partner. The hooded girl with the trident had just defeated the armor digimon and was about to terminate him.

"Armadillomon!" – Cody quickly grabbed a stick lying around and put himself between the digimon and the girl.

"Cody? What are you doing here?" – the hooded girl sounded with a familiar voice yet filled with animosity.

"Don't you hurt him!" – Cody retorted sternly.

"What's this? Growing a heart now?" – the girl mocked raising her trident. Cody acted first and slashed at her with the stick making her take a sudden step back. Her hood fell off revealing her lavender hair and amber glassed eyes.

"Yolei!"

"OK, brat!" – the other hooded teenager spat. He pulled his hood back showing his furious eyes and blond hair. Matt and Siesamon had stopped their fight and the boy gave Cody an hateful and exasperated look. – "If you're here to play than stop acting like a kid and help us destroy the Destiny Stone."

"Frag no!" – the punk punched Odd aside hardly and got back on his feet. He looked at the three digidestined with fury. – "You digidestined freaks caused 'nough trouble t'day! You wanna come here hurt innocent digimon and destroy the Stones. Not on my fragging watch or my name isn't Jeremie Shoot 'em Belpois!"

"Jeremie!" – Cody and Odd shouted stunned. Jeremie dismissed the two twin guns and took an object similar to a magnifying glass from his backpack. The cylinder extended into a bazooka. He instantly fired at the two digidestined dressed in black. Siesamon had leaped out of there and back at Odd's side. Cody carried Armadillomon out of harm's way.

The other three appeared to have forgotten their presence and carried their fight for the Destiny Stone. Jeremie, the Kid trying to save it, Dark-freaky Yolei and Dark-freaky Matt trying to destroy it and him.

"What's going on here?" – Siesamon asked to none in particular. – "We landed on some other dimension where Jeremie, XANA's best pal since the Stone Age, is the hero and Yolei and Matt are the dark, gloomy, evil-monologing baddies?"

"Maybe?" – Odd shrugged. Jeremie threw a grenade at the girl who just exploded into black smoke.

"Yolei!" – Cody shouted for his 'friend'.

Matt took cover behind a rock and got a lucky shot at Jeremie's shoulder. He then spotted Odd and the others and moved at astonishing speed, grabbing Odd by his neck.

"Odd!" – before Labramon could jump on the assaulter. Matt moved again away from them facing Jeremie with Odd as a shield.

"Drop your guns, or…well, you know what I mean." – Matt leered at the gunner. Jeremie swore a word which can't be pronounced due to the rating of this fanfic.

"You chose a very scrawny shield, y'know." – Jeremie retaliated.

"Svelte!" – Odd scowled.

"I'm getting impatient, Belpois." – Matt put one crossbow to Odd's head. Labramon wanted nothing more to go to his rescue. Cody and Armadillomon had to restrain him.

"If we move, Odd will get killed." – Cody tried to reason with the dog digimon. – "This is in Jeremie's hands."

Jeremie clenched his grip on the guns and let out a sigh. Slowly, the gunner lowered his weapons. He never got the chance to drop them, though, for a new hooded entity materialized carrying a scythe. This one was even smaller than Yolei, but everyone could feel the darkness within was even greater.

This new arrival waved the scythe as if cutting the air and a wave of shadows stroke Jeremie, Cody and the digimon. The gunner was just down while the others passed out.

"Bring in your prisoner." – a girl's voice ordered. The new hooded girl sounded stronger than Matt despite been shorter than him.

"Fine, whatever." – the two hooded villains left through a dark portal. The control spire and its two guards, which remained mostly ignored during the fight, also disappeared.

Jeremie slowly got back up and analyzed the scenario. The danger was gone and the Destiny Stone was safe. But as he gave the koed trio a look he knew it wasn't a total victory.

"_Jeremie, are you there old friend?"_ – asked a deep and baritone voice through a communicator on Jeremie's wrist.

"Big X, good to see you got communications back online." – Jeremie greeted.

**(A.N.: No prizes guessing who that is. We all know who's 'Big X'.)**

"The Stone is safe. But we got a bit of a situation here."

"_What situation?"_

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya. Have Davis open a virtual gate…Oh, and you may wanna have three beds in the medbay ready."

_A while later…_

A crack of light pierced the darkness and Cody slowly returned to consciousness. He was lying on something soft and attempted to get up but a firm hand pressed his chest back down gently.

"Take it easy." – Cody froze when he recognized that voice. He looked at the hand's owner only to see the blue eyes and smiling face of TK. Cody would have moved away but then he noticed his wrist had a needle embedded into it. He looked up and saw the needle was connected to a container. It was like a blood infusion, only instead of red liquid, it was a pulsing blue light.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Replenishing your energy." – TK indicated two other beds where Armadillomon and Labramon were asleep, each one also receiving their own blue light transfusion. – "Fortunately, in here human and digimon biology can be treated in the same manner."

"In here?" – Cody looked around. The room was well-illuminated and appeared to be some kind of large hospital room, albeit a very strange one. The walls, ceiling and floor were all a very dark blue colored. The illumination came from white, glowing lines of light which were spread through the walls in parallel. The whole thing reminded Cody of the inside of a computer, the motherboard with its circuit lines.

"This is Sanctuary. Created by our boss as his home and headquarters in our fight against the Digidestined." – TK responded. Cody turned back to him and noticed this TK looked very different from the XANAfied TK he knew. No…he was different even from the _real_ TK.

The TK Cody knew eradiated trustworthiness and a good-spirit but he had a glitter of something… dark in his eyes – as Cody came later to learn it was his undying hate for the Darkness. But this TK seemed _pure_. He also appeared to be good, but his eyes eradiated kindness without a speck of anything else. His outside only accentuated that: this TK was wearing a sort of white robe with extended sleeves imitating wings. The robe had two golden symbols: the bigger Crest of Hope in the chest and the smaller insignia of XANA inside the crest. Despite the simplicity of his clothes, TK had a look of religious goodness.

"The Digidestined?" – Cody inquired standing up. TK's smile turned into a thoughtful gaze.

"At first, Jeremie thought you were Cody." – TK then shrugged with an apologizing smile. – "Well, technically you _are_ Cody. Just not the Cody we all now and don't like very much."

"It's weird actually. When he told us the story about you and your digimon trying to protect the Destiny Stone I thought of two options: you were either a good twin/clone of Cody or you came from some alternate Universe where the Digidestined are the good guys. Am I right?" – TK finished a silly smile to which Cody just blinked. The blond scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and mumbled some incoherent apologies/explanations for his seemingly stupid idea.

"_Now he reminds me more of Davis than TK._" – Cody thought watching TK having his googlehead moment.

"Yeah you're right. That's just silly." – TK gave a ghost of a chuckled. – "When I said that Jeremie just scoffed that I had too many loose screws and Davis gave his typical silent _gansgta_ look."

"Davis is here?"

"Yeah. Always quiet and working on the computers. You would think a guy who stays all day in front of an interface would be a bit more craving for human contact. But no, Mr. Scarface-Eyepatch-Silent-Guy never likes to loosen up." – TK shook his head in pouting disappointment. Cody looked again at the other beds and noticed who was missing.

"Where's Odd?"

"Odd? If you mean the Dragon Ball fanboy Jeremie complaint about, he was taken by the Digidestined. That all thing happened 17 hours ago, when Jeremie brought you here." – TK said. Cody immediately went into red alert, but TK stopped him from getting out of bed.

"Hold your horses! In the Sanctuary time goes faster than in the Human or Digital World. Jeremie brought you guys here 17 hours ago but less than 15 minutes have passed in the Digital World. So Odd has been on the Digidestined clutches for a very short time."

"Is breakfast ready?" – a voice mumbled and the tow humans saw Labramon and Armadillomon waking up. The two digimon quickly panicked when they saw their medic. It took Cody to comfort them that TK was a friend. It was then Labramon noticed who was missing.

"Odd!"

"Calm down, bobby!" – TK reassured. – "Our boss will try and help you but first he must speak to you. And now that you're all up and about…"

"Boss? You mean XANA?" – Armadillomon questioned, his gaze wary. TK just gave a strange look upon hearing the word 'XANA'.

"Well, yeah. Though he hasn't been called XANA for a long time now." – TK touched a wall with his bare hand and a doorway opened. – "So let's go!"

The three followed TK slowly, eyeing their surroundings for any sign of a trap. But they couldn't help but admire the vastness of the Sanctuary. The medbay was part of a big cubical structure. The whole environment was plane and dark-blue with white lines providing light. It was really like a giant computer chip, the lines like tiny high-ways.

As they walked, Cody noticed there were other buildings all shaped like cones, pyramids, prims and cubes. The sky above their heads was completely dark but when Cody gazed upon the horizon he saw strange panels of light rising into the darkness of the sky. The whole Sanctuary was within a giant dome.

"_Looks like the Celestial Dome on Sector 5_." – Cody thought. He had never actually been to Lyoko but Aelita had showed him pictures of the five sectors.

"This looks like the Grid." – Labramon whispered.

"What grid?" – Armadillomon questioned.

"You know, from the movie TRON: Legacy."

Along the way, there were monsters patrolling the place. This made the digimon even more enervated but they continued. The monsters never gave them more than a sideways glance.

"Yo, Johnny! How's it creepin'!" – TK greeted a lone Creeper at the distance. The monster replied with a wave of its own.

They went into the central pyramid which was taller than every other building. This pyramid stood in the middle of a hole on the ground, connected only by a bridge for passage. The pyramid had XANA's symbol imprinted in the entrance. TK repeated the process of opening doorways with his hand and the four entered.

The inside was simpler than Cody had imagined. The center of the pyramid had a sort of circular fireplace. A giant white and blue fire raised from floor to the top of the pyramid which Cody now noticed was opened.

"Yo, Big X!" – TK greeted the strange fire. The flames shook as if acknowledging TK's salute.

"**Greetings and welcome to Sanctuary!**" – said a deep and baritone voice from the fire. Despite its welcoming and wise-sounding tone, Cody couldn't neglect a strange familiarity of the voice:

"XANA?"

"**Once yes. But I have left that name long ago. Nowadays I am known as XANADU.**" – the voice spoke again. – "**Usually I would ask you why one such as you would try to save the Destiny Stone. But, from what Davis and I managed to verify, you are not the Cody Hida we know.**"

Cody heard a faint sound of someone working on a keyboard. He turned to the left and saw someone working focused on a supercomputer with multiple interfaces. Cody's eyes went wide when he saw the operator was Davis.

But not the Davis he knew. This one was wearing a black hood like the Digidestined, though his coat had a long zipper. Davis' face, however, was the big surprise: a scar on the right cheek, an eye patch over the left eye. His hair was still spiky, but ended in a long ponytail. Davis expression was stoic, quiet and patient. Cody noticed his attire didn't sport the Eye of XANA anywhere.

"**I assume you're already acquainted with my team. This is Davis, my technical operator. He's quite a tech expert and ingenious spymaster."**

Cody couldn't avoid a glare; Davis ingenious with computer expertize? Labramon _had_ to be right about this been another dimension. Because there was no way, XANAfied or not, Cody could imagine the Davis he knew as a 'tech expert and ingenious spymaster'.

"Hello?" – Cody complimented but this Davis only gave his a monotonous glance for about two seconds before returning to his work. Cody flinched a little. Had he done something wrong?

"**He almost never talks, actually.**" – XANADU comforted as if he had heard Cody's thoughts. – "**I've worked with him for sometime and he rarely talks to anyone, even to me.**"

"And that might be for the best." – a voice Cody thought he would never hear again. He turned around to see a Ken Ichijouji walking towards them. This one's demeanor and voice reminded Cody and Armadillomon of the dreaded Digimon Emperor. His hair, though, was short and not spiky. Along with him came Jeremie Belpois.

Ken's avatar looked like an ancient Chinese battle armor, but instead of an helmet he had a Chinese fisherman hat. He carried a big and heavy weapon which appeared to be half-hammer, half-axe: on one side a bladed end, the other a blunt and massive one. The Eye of XANA, or rather, the Eye of XANADU was on his chest, glittering proudly. The crest of Kindness decorated his belt.

"If we had another chatty in our team like TK, I would quit faster than you can say 'digimon'." – Ken groaned. He then eyed Cody and turned to Jeremie who nodded.

"That's harsh, Kenny." – TK replied though he didn't sound offended.

"For the umpteenth time, my name is NOT _Kenny_!"

The two stopped at that point and looked at XANADU. Cody now noticed that while all of them had the XANADU's insignia on their outfits, none had it on their forehead.

"**Now that we are all here, it's time for an explanation**." – XANADU had no face but Cody knew he meant him. Though the way he said it sounded like a request, not an order.

"What about Odd?" – Labramon barked.

"**In here, time goes much faster than in the other dimensions. We still have several hours to talk and act before they can do anything to your friend.**" – deciding they couldn't avoid this, Cody began telling his story.

He told everything, from the original 5 Digidestined who sealed Apocalymon to the on-going conflict with XANA. The other humans were surprised when Cody described how XANA had possessed them one by one. Even Davis showed some emotion. Ken was stunned for discovering all about his other-self's 'Digimon Emperor stage'.

"**Our story however begins in the middle of yours but with a different detail.**" – XANADU began his tale. – "**VenoMyotismon had been utterly destroyed, so he never possessed Oikawa nor influenced Ken into becoming the Digimon Emperor. Without any darkness to feed itself, the dark spore died out. Yolei, Cody and Davis never become digidestined because there was no reason for it. With no threat to the Digital World, the old Digidestined were never recalled and their partners haven't been seen since the end of that Summer four years ago.**"

XANADU made a stop while Cody, Armadillomon and Labramon took this all in. The AI seemed to have something else in mind.

"**This all seems to point to one conclusion. Since the differences between your Universe and our own seemed have been caused by a difference in one event which caused the following to differ as well."** – XANADU explained.

"So they really are from a parallel dimension. I knew it!" – TK raised his fists high up in the air. Ken just rolled his eyes and Cody gave the blond him another weird look.

"_More and more like Davis._" – he then looked back at XANADU. – "But what has that difference to do with you?"

"**You said Franz Hopper, who was once called Waldo Schaeffer, created my counterpart. But our Waldo Schaeffer was never much alike your Franz Hopper. As far as I remembered, my creator never changed his identity for he was never wanted by the French Secret Service. He wasn't married so Aelita was never born.**"

"**But his personality was the biggest difference. Waldo was an egocentric, delusional man with a god complex**.** I had been created, under the X.A.N.A., to monitor and protect Lyoko from the dangers of the outside world. Waldo wanted Lyoko to be a sanctuary where he could live forever and be a God.**"

"A major nutjob." – Labramon said.

"**Yes… But he had the wisdom to program me with the ability to learn. Time passed and Waldo many, many Returns to the Past, repeating the same day for about 7 years. Those gave me strength but only accented his insanity even more.**"

"And that's where I came in." – Jeremie announced. – "Five years ago, I just walked into the factory after getting out of juvie."

"You were in juvie?" – Cody asked, open-mouthed. This was going beyond all limits of crazy. An always-cheerful TK and a grumpy Ken were one thing. But a silent, thinker Davis and a punk/delinquent Jeremie were too much!

"Well, duh! Where you think I got the tattoos and piercings?" – Jeremie shrugged. – "I was always an early delinquent, though I changed my ways a bit…Anyways, I came into the building to investigate. Maybe even make it my secret hangout place. When I used the elevator, I came into the interface room and there was old Waldo's skeleton sitting in the chair. Turns out the little freak had worked himself to death."

Jeremie paused for a while before continuing.

"So I went into the supercomputer and turned it on. XANA woke up from his nap and that's how we met." – Jeremie nodded which indicated to XANADU to continue.

"**I decided to introduce myself to Jeremie. We talked and the way he described the world spiked my curiosity. Waldo had never allowed me to see the outside. This was what started my journey into becoming what I am today.**"

For the next minutes, Cody paid attention to the relay. XANADU'S life was turned upside down by Jeremie's intervention. The delinquent moved on with his life, though he never told anyone about XANA. He wouldn't see XANA again for five years. XANA decided to learn more about the world. He studied the works of men devoted to peace, particularly Gandhi and Pope John Paul II.

By sheer accident, XANA discovered other digital planes like the Digital World and Dark Ocean and began studying the lives and adventures of the original 5 Digidestined who first defeated Apocalymon and then Tai's group that followed. However, XANA's greatest worry was that the current problems with human society, especially the wars and inequality. So he chose to abandon his duties of safe-guarding a lifeless reality like Lyoko and vowed to from then on protect the real world.

"**With this decision to change, I saw fit to enlarge my name: XANADU.**" – the AI said.

Secretly, XANADU revealed himself to certain characters like the Pope John Paul II and other people and associations devoted to peace, particularly the leaders of the United Nations and began working with them to the same purpose.

During his story, XANADU came to reveal that, to Cody's surprise, the year in this alternate Universe was 2004. Cody's dimension was two years behind.

XANADU in his domain had more time to think and act upon solutions to help his human allies. From peacekeeping missions, anti-racism campaigns, and dismantling terrorist activities, XANADU worked behind the scenes to assist his human allies.

Wars came to a stop, some more smoothly than others and campaigns of equality and fraternity have been taken underway. Terrorism had become virtually none-existent.

Next, XANADU turned his attention to the Earth itself. Once again, he contacted altruist scientists in the fields of medicine, ecology and astronomy. More advanced treatments for cancer have been researched and cures for Alzheimer and AIDS are very close to be developed. Pollution and other behaviors harmful to the environment are been steadily eradicated.

All in all, the world under XANADU's influence is slowly but surely becoming better than a world without XANA.

**(A.N.: This all happened in five years from 1999 to 2004. In this Universe, the Digidestined are two years older than in 'our' Universe. Their involvement with XANADU started in 2004.)**

"So you helped uniting the world…" – Cody said it with a drop of dubiousness. There was still a small chance this was all a big sham of XANA's making. – "but what has happened for Matt and Yolei wanting to destroy the Digital World?"

"And who was that other girl with the scythe?" – Armadillomon added. XANADU didn't answer just yet.

"**With the human world turning brighter, I turned my attentions to investigate the Digital World and to my great astonishment I discovered that Kari had just been made Empress of the Dark Ocean.**"

Cody couldn't avoid a gasp and neither digimon took the news without surprise. To think that Digidestined of Light had become sovereign of that dark world…

"**I sensed the Digital World becoming unbalanced by the growing darkness and the diminishing of light. I contacted Gennai and the Sovereign Azulongmon. They told what exactly transpired.**"

"**Kari had been taken by the creatures disguised as Scubamon** **and overthrown their original ruler. She believed that if she united all realms she could see Gatomon again and this is how things started to go the wrong way. To do that, she intended to immerse the Digital World and the rest of the cosmos in darkness and reshaped it after her image. With the intent of changing the Universe, Kari decided to change her name too. And so she became Kairi, the Seeker of Darkness.**" – XANADU made another stop. He could perfectly tell this wasn't easy for Cody for he had talked of his friend Kari with great respect and affection.

**(A.N.: 'Kairi' is Japanese for 'sea'. It kind fits since she now rules over a sea of darkness.)**

"Kairi?" – he made the connection and finally remembered the unknown girl with the scythe. – "Was she…"

"The one with the scythe, yeah. She's the leader of the Digidestined." – Ken confirmed spitefully. XANADU carried on with the story:

"**Kairi turning to the dark side would in the long run also affect the human world and so I intervened. But I was outgunned and outnumbered. Kairi had contracted the assistance of the other Digidestined. Matt and Izzy were intoxicated with the idea of seeing their friends again so they accepted to serve her. Sora, Joe and Mimi refused and nobody knows what happened to them. Tai, however, tried to talk sense into Kairi and confronted her. This had a terrible feedback for Tai: Kairi mutilated him and had her minions chain him to a rock and tossed to the bottom of the dark ocean. Kairi also hired two others that had potential, even though they never became Digidestined: Yolei and…This may come to you as a shock but, her other recruit is Cody.**"

Cody fell on his knees. His mind threatening to explode…Tai dead…Kari using the darkness…Izzy and Yolei with the side of evil…Joe and the others gone.

"No." – he sighed. Armadillomon gazed worriedly at him. – "I don't believe you…I don't believe you!"

His vision began to spin and blur. His head fell heavier by the second.

"Kid." – TK said.

"Cody!" – Armadillomon cried out. The boy felt an acid coming up to his mouth before passing out.

_Later…_

Cody woke up once again in the medbay. This time he knew what had happened to him.

"Cody!" – Armadillomon immediately cheered up seeing his friend up and about.

"Good to see you among the living again, buddy." – TK grinned. – "XANADU was worried that was all too much for you."

Cody got out of bed and tried to steady himself before talking. He noticed Labramon wasn't here.

"Where's Labramon?"

"Talking to Davis about a way to track Odd's signal. Though Davis is surely not talking back. Opening portals to the Dark Ocean isn't easy but Scarface believes Labramon's link to his human can help things."

"Cody, you sure you're OK?" – Armadillomon stood close to him in case Cody had another breakdown.

"I'm fine…I just need to…know the rest." – TK gave him a quizzing look:

"The rest?"

"Yeah…XANADU wasn't finished when I passed out, was he?"

"No more shocking news until you're fully rested. Now onto bed and sleep." – TK said for the first time with a stern tone. Armadillomon agreed with him and so Cody lied down.

_1 hour later…_

Cody was walking around the Sanctuary. The view was relaxing enough though he couldn't exactly call it beautiful. Impressive yes, but no beauty. He kept going in his aimless with his thoughts until he reached a warehouse-like structure shaped like a prism. Cody decided to finally stop and leaned against it to consider what he had just learnt.

"**Quite a view isn't it?**"

"Have you been watching me?"

"**No.**" – XANADU's voice responded. – "**I may be able to see and hear everything that happens in Sanctuary, but I don't violate people's privacy.**"

"Hum…" – Cody glanced at the building he was leaning against. – "What is inside this building?"

"**Some prototype inventions of mine to help Mars become more habitable.**" – XANADU spoke casually as if it was the same as going to the groceries store.

"That sounds a little…hard to imagine." – Cody said doubtful. – "Maybe even impossible."

"**Impossible is but a word. Nobody in the Dark Ages believed Humanity could reach the moon and yet man has planted its footprints in it.**" – XANADU argued. – "**People define the impossible as something they never see happen or something that has no similar event happening. The mind creates non-existing barriers between what can and can't be achieved. Definitions of impossibility are the biggest of misguidances. Many humans know this to be true.**"

"How did you found TK?" – Cody asked aloud before he realized. XANADU made another of his pauses before answering.

"**When Kairi became a menace, I choose not to alert my human allies in high places. I feared if the most powerful people were to turn their eye against Kairi it would draw her wrath. Many humans are already aware of Digimon and this revelation could sow a future hostility. Instead, I decided to put together a team of new 'Digidestined' to aide me.**"

"**I contacted my old friend Jeremie who accepted. Then I found TK who had managed to escape Kairi's pressganging. Eventually, came Ken who was accidentally involved into one of Kairi's attacks. And finally Davis, whose origins are...still a mystery. These four together now call themselves the XANADU Guardians.**" – XANADU added with an emotion Cody couldn't quite place. It sounded like nostalgia mixed with amusement. A deep sense of loss.

"**Battles were fought to protect the Destiny Stones. Kairi wants them destroyed so that the worlds will be mixed. She believes she can see Gatomon again if all the planes merge together.**"

"Can't Kari…I mean, can't _Kairi _enter the Digital World like she used to?"

"**No, Gennai suspect it's because she renounced the light and has embraced the darkness. Same goes for Matt, Yolei and the others. The ones that appeared in the fight were merely replicas created by the control spire.**"

"There's one thing that doesn't add up." – Cody narrowed his eyes. – "Matt and Izzy might want to see Gabumon and Tentomon again. But Yolei and…the other_ me_ aren't Digidestined. So why are they with Kairi?"

"**I would like to have an answer to that. But...**" – XANADU stopped for a while. – "**Davis just contacted me. He has figured out a way into getting you to the Dark Ocean**."

They returned to XANADU's chamber. Or rather, Cody returned there since XANADU was present in all of Sanctuary. Labramon, Armadillomon and the XANADU Guardians were already there

"This Davis is kinda weird." – Labramon whispered to Armadillomon. – "He didn't say a thing all the time, he just talked through his Ipad. And half of what he _said_ I couldn't figure out."

"**Davis has detected a connection between Odd and Labramon, through the D-3. The bond between human and digimon is quite strong even in early stages.**" – XANADU explained. – "**We can use the connection to form a pathway to Odd. But once you go in, the pathway will be closed. So Davis has to remain here to trace your location and bring you back.**"

"**Cody, you still have the D-Terminal you told me about?**" – Cody nodded. – "**Good. I'll try and keep contact with you. Jeremie, I made a last minute update to your new weapons.**"

Jeremie's backpack suddenly glowed and two long cannon materialized from it, attached to it and resting on Jeremie's shoulders.

"Oh yeah!" – the gunner grinned wickedly grasping his new weapons by the triggers.

"Oh great." – Ken rolled his eyes. – "Mr. Jeremie Shoot'em Belpois just got a new toy and he's never gonna give it a rest."

"Jealous, Kenny?" – Jeremie smirk widened. – "Anyways I think these call for a new name. From now on I'm Jeremie Nuke'em Belpois!"

Cody couldn't avoid a smile. Definitely not the Jeremie he knew. Davis went for his supercomputer and a vortex of darkness materialized between them and XANADU.

"**Good luck.**"

_With Odd…_

The Lyoko Warrior was now tied to a table in what seemed to be Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Except instead of Frankenstein, the doctor was called Izzy. But not the Izzy he knew. This one had small, insane, black eyes. His hair was carelessly disheveled and his demented grin.

"Nice of Kairi to give a new toy to play with." – the crazy genius said to himself. Then he turned to Odd. – "Let's see what you're holding inside, now!"

The Lyoko Warrior could only think how this had happened. Though Cody and the others had spent about 24 hours in Sanctuary, only 20 minutes had passed to Odd.

_20 minutes before…_

_Odd regained conscience, he was in what looked like the throne room of Dracula's wife. The hall was large and majestically gloomy. He was standing on his knees chained up. He looked up and saw Matt holding him. The taller blond was talking to the girl with a scythe sitting on the throne._

_"So you've woken up, have you Odd?" – she said, her face concealed by the hood. Matt looked at his prisoner surprised that he had recovered conscience. – "Leave us, Matt!"_

_Matt groaned under his breath but did as was told. Odd stood on his knees, unable to stand up. The 'evil queen' just stood there watching him through her hood._

_"Overkill, don't you think?" – Odd grinned. – "Kidnapping a guy. If you wanted a date, you could have just asked."_

_She said nothing. Instead she rose from her throne and pulled back the hood. Odd couldn't avoid a gasp when he looked into Kari's brown eyes. Kari was giving a warm and welcoming smile. It was her smile, but this no Kari. Her eyes held something foreign. Something… _dark_._

_"Evil Matt, Sissi Yolei, hero Jeremie…should have guesses there would be a Vampire Queen Kari." – Odd joked._

_"Kari?" – she giggled in the exact same way Kari did, but it didn't make Odd any more comfortable. – "That's not my name. I am Kairi, the Seeker of Darkness."_

_"So you're basically Kari with a Gothic complex. Good for you!"_

_"I know you're not from here." – Kairi ignored him. – "I can feel you're not from Earth I know. Are you one of XANADU's creations? Or maybe…from _another_ Earth?"_

_"Gee, you tell me Christina Hendricks. I'm kind lost, see. Me and my friends, Lionbramon, Armordillomon and Cody-Scarecrow were all together hopping around, going to see the Wizard of Oz."_

_Kairi walked back to her throne and sat. Her eyes gazed upon the ceiling which opened, revealing the starless dark sky of the Dark Ocean._

_"I've vowed to swallow every world into darkness. Even after Gatomon is back in my arms. If there are other worlds out there, and now I'm almost sure there are, I won't rest until those worlds and their people return to the darkness they were born from."_

_She waved with her hand and two creatures apparently made out of coal appeared. They bowed to their Empress._

_"We live to serve you, almighty Empress."_

_"Take him to Izzy's lab. Have him analyze his memories and discover where he came from." – she ordered._

_Present…_

"You can call me 'Doctor Buzzsaw', if you want." – Izzy leered, picking up an actual buzzsaw. He then looked at Odd like a child about to receive a treat. – "I had been hoping for some subjects for my dissection table…"

With that, Izzy activated the buzzsaw and approached it slowly to Odd's torso. The blond could only watch in growing terror as the spinning blade drew near him.

A flash of light blinded him momentarily and a blond figure sporting two massive canons on his shoulders roared.

"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I've got _fifteen packets_ of gum, Iz!" – with that Jeremie fired the two weapons at the Nazi doctor. The twin blasts didn't vaporize him but made a hole in the wall, and then in the next, and the next… The gunner whistled watching Izzy's smoking body from the room at the end of the tunnel he just made.

"I think I'm in love!" – Jeremie gazed lovingly at his twin cannons.

"Odd, you ok?" – Labramon barked.

"Just fine. Doctor Buzzsaw was about to cut me open but fine." – Odd smiled. The dog digimon quickly started to bite the ropes. Cody looked aghast to Izzy:

"Did you just kill him?"

"No. The Digidestined in here are powered by the darkness. Even cockroaches are easier to blast." – Jeremie looked around as shadows began to surface from the ground.

"We've got to get out of here." – Ken said, smashing a shadow coal creature and cutting other in two with his axe-hammer.

"Heck no! I wanna blast something more!" – Jeremie protested.

"What are they?" – Armadillomon asked.

"Kairi's minions!" – Ken said dealing with another one. Jeremie decided to clean up the whole thing with his new toys again. The blast wiped out all enemies and destroyed what little of the lab had remained intact after the first shot.

"Now that's how you kick butt!" – Jeremie grinned smugly.

"You've had your fun now let's get out of here!" – Ken demanded.

"I'm with Ken in this." – Odd supported.

"Kill-joy." – Jeremie muttered. Ken smashed a window in the lab and looked down. They were in a tower of the castle, over the ocean by a cliff. Next to the cliff was a beach.

"We're gonna have to jump." – Ken quickly grabbed Odd with one arm and Labramon with the other and leaped into a hundred feet fall into the sea.

"Hum…and he says I'm the one jumping into situation." – Jeremie rolled his eyes. – "OK Cody, Armadillomon, you're jumping with me, so…"

Before Jeremie could grab his two passengers, a dark force pushed him into the fall and he fell into the ocean. Cody and Armadillomon turned around to see a short, hooded figure about Cody's height, armed with a kendo sword.

"You!" – Cody shouted. He didn't want to believe it, but even if he hadn't recognized the voice immediately, the kendo sword and the height were obvious clues. Cody could only watch silently as his alternate removed the hood.

Alternate Cody looked more alike to the 'real' Cody than the Digidestined would have wished. Except that the Alternate's green eyes didn't hold a taint of pure evil that was to be expected from an evil twin. They showed surprise, confusion and curiosity, just like his own probably did.

But then everything changed; the Alternate's gaze morphed into cruelty and an elusive cleverness. Cody took an involuntary step back and Armadillomon stood in defense position.

"So Kairi was right. There really are other universes and other human worlds." – Alternate Cody smiled deviously. Without saying another word he moved at breath-taking speed and pushed Digidestined and Digimon off to the sea.

_Armadillomon armor-digivolve to…Submarimon, the deep Loyalty_

Cody entered the living submarine and the two made a fast b-line to the beach, catching the others on the way.

"Phew, okay so after meeting Her Royal Evilness Kari, Doctor Franken-Izzy, Jeremie, the Kid and…a heroic Ken." – Odd gave an awkward look at the last XANADU Guardian. – "am I to take that XANA is the new Dalai Llama?"

"Kinda." – Labramon answered. Cody went for his D-Terminal to communicate with XANADU.

"XANADU says Davis is locking onto our coordinates. He'll open a gate ASAP." – Cody told them. In less than twenty seconds a portal opened the rescuers went through it, happy to bid farewell to that dark world.

Kairi had watched the whole thing from her throne room in the highest tower. At the eyes of anyone else, this would be a pesky little loss, but not in hers. She now knew for certain there was more out there than the worlds she knew. Worlds waiting to be plunged into pure darkness.

With this in mind, she couldn't stop but smile.

In the remains of Izzy's ruined lab, Alternate Cody stood. He too had watched the whole escapade and his mind also boiled with new ideas. Though his were different to Kairi's.

"_My alternate was bonded with a digimon. It protected him. The bond itself made my alternate self stronger."_ – the evil Cody thought remembering the inner-strength he gazed in Cody's eyes. A new realization dawned; his mind filled with wicked excitement. – "_That's what I have been looking for! That power is what I need to dethrone that lunatic dreamer Kairi and become the supreme ruler of all darkness!"_

Alternate Cody smiled as he connived for the future at his image.

_Back on Sanctuary, in XANADU's chamber…_

"OK, so if XANA, aka XANADU turned out to be good in this Universe and Kari became the evil queen, where is Alternate-me?" – Odd asked.

"**After Cody relayed your story to me, I conducted a quick search.**" – XANADU answered matter-of-factly. – "**Your alternate-self, along with Miss Ishiyama's and Mr. Stern's, are enrolled in Kadic. But they have never discovered the factory nor been chosen as Digidestined.**"

"That's probably because they never met me." – Jeremie mused. – "Heck I never even went to that Kadic."

Davis gave a look at XANADU and nodded. A new vortex, this time multi-colored, flashed-opened in front of the Digidestined. At the end of the vortex they could see the same spot on the beach of File Island where they left.

"**Davis managed to recreate the portal that brought you here. All it was needed was to analyze the recorded codes in the D-3 that opened the gate to our dimension and force the device to repeat the process.**" – XANADU explained since Davis (as always) didn't feel like talking.

"Quick stop!" – Odd said. – "Our D-3s can record when and where we open-digital gates all along? Oh, man Izzy is gonna go ballistic when we tell him a Davis figured this out and he didn't. Thanks for the rescue, XANA…do!"

Odd and Labramon leaped into the vortex. Cody stopped in his tracks and turned to XANADU and his guardians.

"Goodbye to everyone and thanks for your help." – Cody had been taught to be polite, but sincerely there wasn't much more he could say. He was bidding farewell to alternate versions of his enemies and couldn't forget the awkwardness. Intuition told him the Alternates were having the same thoughts about him.

Armadillomon entered the portal alongside him and in less than a blink of an eye they were back on File Island. The TV set was destroyed, however, with a deep blackened crater where it used to be.

"_Guys, are you alright?"_ – Aelita shouted.

"Everything's A-OK, Princess!" – Odd cheered. – "And do we have news for you!"

_In Gisaku…_

The Training Simulation Arena had been turned into an experiment lab. There were several Creepers monitoring the computers. In the middle of the room, there was a glass tube with a young blond male human body inside, wired in several points of his body to a machine, via tubes. XANA and his Warriors observed, silent, in a corner.

"Begin final check of subject W-16." – the Creeper in charge commanded.

"Blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate and brain activity, all normal." - another Creeper reported.

"Beginning self-sustenance procedure. Let's see if this on can survive on its own." – the chief Creeper commanded. The liquid inside the cloning tank started to be drained. The child clone was still asleep, though.

**"This time, the XDestined Project can't fail.**" – XANA muttered. – "**We've already had 15 failures.**"

"Sir, you really think we should persist in the XDestined Project? Like you said, we've already had 15 failures. W-16 is our 16th test subject. Even if this one turns out to be a success, he's just one. We still have hundreds of other specimens to produce." – Jeremie argued.

"**If we can produce just one stable clone, than we can produce thousands of others, even if they're different specimens. The problem so far has always been organ rejection. We just need to find the right procedure.**" – XANA muttered. The previous 15 W specimens had all died after they were created due to gruesome tumors that had grown as soon as they started breathing. – "**Creating clones form me is easy just so long I have an activated tower. Creating an organic clone capable of self-sustainable life is much harder, if the 15 failures are any proof of that.**"

The liquid was completely drained from the cloning tank and the glass capsule was opened. The human boy was lying on the ground naked, not breathing.

"Heart rate and brain activity decreasing! We're losing it!" – a Creeper announced panicking.

"**No! Not again! Not another failure!**" – XANA roared.

Suddenly the dying clone stood up with a roar, injuring several joints which had never been used before. The boy ripped off the tubes attached to his body which caused even more pain, but he didn't let it overcame him. The newborn clone roared; he was alive!

"**It's alive!**"

"And naked." – Ken added, putting his hand over his range of view of below the clone's waist for reason that can't be explained in a K+ rated chapter like this one.

But it wasn't over just yet. After the clone recovered from the shock of been born, he leaped into the nearest Creeper and ripped its head with its teeth. Before the monsters or XANA Warriors could react, the clone was ripping two other Creepers apart. While the monsters screamed in terror and the Warriors (minus TK) watched in shock, XANA laughed in triumph. At last his hard work had made the first harvest.

"**It worked. I knew it worked. My project has finally given the first success. Starting from now on, all the resources will be directed to continuing the XDestined Project.**" – XANA turned back his attention to the clone which had calmed down after elimination the last monster. The XANA Warriors didn't dare to go near him just yet. – "**Now, now, my son! Play time is over. There's much training to do.**"

The clone looked at the cloud of black smoke and bowed his head, like a sorry child. If XANA had a mouth, he would be smirking, as he greeted his new creation.

"**Welcome back to life, Willis.**"

-Non-canon scene-

Kairi was looking at the sky of the Dark Ocean. Since her domain had no sun, it had no concept of day or night. And the sky was always the same: dark. The Empress and Seeker of Darkness spent several hours at a time staring at the sky.

That was when her servants knew she was dreaming about darkness and the future. Also, they knew better than to interrupt her if they valued their lives.

Today, though, it wasn't just that feeling her mind. Cody, not the one working beneath her. It was the _other_ Cody, the one she knew had come from other Universe. At first it had pleased her to see him (and his companions). It proved there was still so much to do.

"_Every light must fade. Every soul, every world return to darkness."_

But then that joy was broken by another discovery: that _other_ Cody was carrying a great light with him. A light greater and brighter than any of the other invaders had brought into the Dark Ocean.

The joy of meeting these new Digidestined was erased when she felt the small boy reeked of that _disgusting_ light!

"I have tasted your light, Cody Hida." – she spoke to the _other_ Cody, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. – "I know what you are. Where you came from. I know _you_. And you are numbered among the enemies of the Seeker of Darkness."

"XANADU, I will destroy. His Guardians, I will destroy. All they love, I will corrupt and taint in darkness before their very eyes, before I kill them. But you Cody, you who dared to bring your hideous light to my domain, you who came here without my blessing, you who holds the legacy of two Crests…you I won't destroy. I won't be that merciful."

**( 1 ) – PC stands for 'posterius combustum' which means 'After Burn' and is the new scale of time. It will make sense in the end of the fict.**

**( 2 ) – This is how someone addresses the current emperor of Japan.**

* * *

><p><strong>Ouch, Cody made a dangerous enemy he hasn't even met. I never give the kid a break, do I? Mwhahahaha!<strong>

**WILLIS IS BACK! Maybe not, but yeah it's true that XANA cloned Willis. But that doesn't mean I brought Willis back from the dead. That's something you'll have to find out.**

**'Shattered Glass' is from the Transformers franchise. An parallel reality where the Decepticons are nice and heroic and the Autobots are insane and evil. **

**When Odd mentions the Wizard of Oz, he compares Labramon to the lion without courage, Armadillomon to the heartless armor and Cody to the brainless scarecrow.**

**I don't know if I'll use the Alternates again in a future chapter. But in case someone would like me too, here are the descriptions of the characters. I'm still thinking about more developed backstories.**

**Personalities and characteristics:**

**XANADU: wise, just, idealist, merciful, tolerant, diligent, selfless, serious, open-minded , knowledgeable;**

**Jeremie: rebellious, adventurous, cocky, impatient, aggressive, combative, somewhat harsh;**

**Davis: Quiet, mysterious, stern, stoic, ingenious, patient;**

**TK: Kind, cheerful, optimist, funny, sometimes a bit naïve;**

**Ken: grumpy, impatient, fast-thinker, knowledgeable, sarcastic;**

**Kairi (Kari's alternate): Unforgiving, merciless, dreamer, evil, slightly insane;**

**Yolei: Callous, unsympathetic;**

**Cody: Conniving, smart, elusive, traitorous, selfish, cruel; **

**Matt: Merciless, strong-willed, cruel;**

**Izzy: Intelligent, sadistic, insane;**

**Waldo Schaeffer (Franz Hopper's alternate): Sociopath, insane, delusional, egocentric;**


	29. Ep 26 French Kiss

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 26: French Kiss**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon/Renardmon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Happy Halloween! I know this chapters isn't much scary but it's my Halloween present. I would like to dedicate this episode partly to PrideVoila. Also, I gave Davis new, different powers. For those who don't remember Catherine was the French digidestined that TK and Tai helped in the series. XANA terminated her along with her partner. This chapter contains some very mild sexual references.**

**PS: TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED TO THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD APPRECIATE IF THEY REVIEWED AGAIN IN A GUEST ACCOUNT. JUST TO COMPARE THE TWO VERSIONS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.**

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

As Emperor Cody Hida finished telling his story to Taichi Kamiya, the newly returned Japanese ambassador to the USA, a clerk entered the throne room and bowed to the sovereign.

"Tennō Heika," – he addressed the Emperor. – "General Motomiya of the Joint Chiefs is here. He… _requested_ an audience."

Cody allowed it and Tai moved to his left side. General Davis Motomiya, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and overall leader of the Japanese Armed Forces walked firmly into the room. Any look at him could tell most of his old strength was gone from all the years of leading and fighting. Nonetheless, Davis still had the conviction and force to lead the Japanese military. His hardened personality along with old stubbornness from his early years made him an extraordinarily resilient man.

Unlike Tai and the clerk, Davis did not bow before Cody, something that didn't go unnoticed by the ambassador. This unexpected visit was something he wasn't pleased about. Tai didn't approve of many of Davis methods and vice-versa. This was born out of a very unhealthy rivalry which grew over the years.

"Tennō Heika. Ambassador." – Davis greeted passionlessly, especially to Tai. – "I have given this matter considerable thought, and I believe it's time we stretch our military might."

**(A.N.: I apologize if the following paragraph offends anyone. I do not claim to predict other countries policy, nor am I suggesting that they are warmongers. But this is necessary to the story. In later chapters, it will make sense.)**

Davis was a veteran who fought to protect Japan on skirmishes by North Korea and USA years following the Great Burn. Both nations were aware Japan was not responsible but with the economy threatening to collapse you become desperate for resources.

After the Great Burn, many small countries were decapitated with the death of their leaders and had fallen into anarchy. The ones who were already unstable at the time are now considered defunct nations and the territories were seized by their resource-starving neighbors.

"We have intelligence reports indicating that North Korea is building up arms again. We must be prepared for another incursion. Our economy is holding steady so I thought about a nuclear deterrent." – Davis spoke without even flinching. Tai immediately frowned but Cody showed no emotion:

"Tell me, General, won't our neighbors know we're building weapons of mass destruction through their own intelligence services? And won't they try to do the same?"

"Yes, Majesty." – Davis knew where this was going.

"Even if we built a nuke and could use it to convince North Korea to leave us alone, how long would it take for them to do the same?" – Cody continued now using the General's name. – "We cannot be seen as the aggressors."

"I agree, Majesty. But we have our ways to conceal our projects. Even the construction of a major nuke can be kept secret." – Davis argued.

"I believe so, General. You're record precedes you. You're the most cunning officer in this country and a resilient, competent man devoted to it." – Cody said that with no boastfulness. He was simply stating a fact. – "But I feel that's not the right way. Not this time, anyway. For the last eighty-two years our world remained torn apart. But now we are glimpsing the first signs of humanity joining hands again. I'll not allow Japan to threaten this still infant union. Not while I am Emperor."

"Is that your final word, Majesty?"

"It is."

"If I were any other man" – Davis said. He knew he couldn't convince Cody otherwise. – "I would ask you to reconsider. But I know you won't."

The General left the throne room. He knew from the beginning Cody would refute his proposed solution. He and Tai…they believed in peaceful ways. They (especially Tai) sometimes didn't understand that force is the only way. Because while every man wants peace, they mostly see war as the only way to achieve it.

If their enemies had a ruler like Cody Hida, they would be open for peace. But that's not the case.

Davis still remembered the first time he acted alone against his superior, even if the motive was different.

_Lyaku, Dark Ice Sector, Year 2002 AD_

"Never thought you were this kind of guy, Belpois." – Ken commented. – "Keeping a naked girl hidden in your secret not-so-secret lab."

The Dark Ice Sector had a foggy environment with gray icebergs. It didn't hold the cold beauty of its Lyoko counterpart. It was an open secret that the domain of Jeremie Belpois was equipped with a lab and the first XANA Warrior locked himself in there when not on missions.

This lab was a miniature of XANA's on Sector Gisaku. This one only had one human-sized test tube with a clone inside, along with several simple machines and computers.

Jeremie Belpois was right now staring at the inactive clone of the deceased digidestined Catherine within the tube filled with liquid. He just ignored Ken and continued to look at his pet project.

"Hey, isn't that one of those digidestined we killed?" – Ken asked, resembling the French girl's face vaguely. Jeremie's answer was a quiet nod. – "What's she doing here? What are you up to?"

"You remember when XANA complaint about the creation of Willis-16 being too costly?" – Jeremie asked. – "I've took a small sample from the remains of the girl Catherine and cloned her. I've been trying to find a way to make a clone into a self-sustainable super-soldier to speed up the XDestined project. But up until now, no success."

"Wait a sec." – Ken squinted. – "You took a DNA sample? Didn't XANA say the frozen remains of the Digidestined were off limits?"

"Well…yeah." – Jeremie said nervously, with a shrug. – "But the boss is so wrapped up with his new pet Willis-16…I'm sure he'll be grateful if I can crack this problem."

Willis-16, the flesh and blood clone of the deceased digidestined Willis, had been put through harsh training ever since its creation. The clone was turning out to be everything XANA had hoped for; strength, stamina, speed, agility and intelligence all beyond human capacity. A fast learner and savage fighter from what they had seen in the arena.

Jeremie picked up a small container and injected a purple liquid into the tube connected to the clone's veins. The clone began to stir slowly, hands and feet shaking.

"What's that thing?" – Ken looked at the purple stuff.

"A stamina drug I invented. I've been infusing Catherine-2 here with it to make her self-sustainable and powerful. It kinda works, but the compound has a few… problematic side effects."

"What side effects?"

As if on cue, the clone started violently punching and kicking her glass prison. She even tried to bite it. Both XANA Warriors could see the murder intent in her eyes. Jeremie pushed a button in the interface of the tube and electricity sparked. The clone was stunted into unconsciousness.

"Sheer, uncontrollable rage." – Jeremie responded neutrally. – "That's her main flaw, besides the fact that she needs to be replenished with the drug, from time to time."

"So this clone of yours can compete with Willis-16 but needs to be administered with the drug on a daily basis and is too wild to be controlled." – Ken resumed. Jeremie revealed his left shoulder which had recent injuries.

"When I gave her the first dose, I let her out of the tube. She wasted no time jumping on me and biting my shoulder.

"So she gave you some wild French hickeys." – Ken smothered a chuckled.

"Get the hell out of my lab!" – Jeremie muttered, opening the door. Ken walked out and Jeremie gave one last look to the clone before leaving too.

None had ever noticed there had been a third XANA Warrior in the room. Leaning on a wall, an invisible figure gained color and form as Davis.

"So Icestein is making a pet project to score some points with XANA, hu." – Davis mused. He approached the sleeping clone and gazed at the naked figure with a leer.

"Pretty good idea you had, Belpois. You could give the boss an edge on the XDestined Project if this thing goes right." – Davis summoned his curved short-sword and prepared to slash at the tube. – "And that's something I won't let happen. Not on my watch!"

He attacked…and stopped! The blade rested an inch from the glass. Davis stood motionless but his mind was very much active. An idea…a new possibility, even. Davis could actually use this little experiment of Jeremie's to further his own goals. He put down the sword, examined the clone once again and smirked.

"Hum, yeah that might work." – Davis snapped his fingers and few pixels of dark and red light glittered in his hand. Those were codes from a virus he had just come up with. He phased through the glass like a specter and inserted the codes into the clone. – "A little wacko programming to help you helping me, Cathy."

Davis turned around, figuring out a way to move one with phase 2:

"Now how to talk Kenny into doing this?" – he mused to himself. It didn't took long for a scheme to draw in his mind.

_In the Dark Desert Sector…_

Ken was lying down on a big, flat rock in his territory. He was still wondering about Jeremie's project when a cheerful, annoying voice disturbed him.

"Yo, Kenny!"

"Davis." – Ken said that name more like a curse when he saw the black and red suited XANA Warrior. That was something that still bugged Ken, Jeremie and XANA; Davis' avatar had changed after he returned from his little vacation **(Spin Off: Road to Peace)**. – "What do you want?"

"Just wanna chit-chat a little. You know, about some stuff you may think it's kinda weird too." – Davis used his most gogglehead demeanor and lied down close to him. Ken sighed; even if he tried to tune Davis out, he would just keep nagging him.

"What is it, then?" – better get it over with now, Ken thought.

"XANA used to have very…_imaginative_ plans for attack." – Davis began. – "You've heard about that time when he possessed Della-Robia's mutt to bite everyone on Kadic and turn them into zombies?"

Ken just nodded absently; he didn't know where this pointless conversation was heading and didn't care.

"Why doesn't he just do it again but a bit different to keep the Digidorks guessing?" – Davis continued, trying to get his point. – "Come on, a virus that can turn people into zombies that obey only him without any kind of possession? How great is that that doesn't deserve a second try?"

"Beats me." – Ken replied nonchalantly. A virus that could be used to control minds without using a specter…Ken's eyes went wide as his brain put two and two together.

"I've got it!"

"You got what?" – Davis looked confused, as he wanted to. But inside he was smiling in triumph.

"Nothing…I gotta go! Thanks." – Ken Super Smoked out of there and into the Dark Ice Sector.

"You're welcome." – Davis' mouth twisted into a devious smile. – "All too easy. Now on with phase 3."

_Back on Jeremie's secret not-so-secret lab…_

"XANA's zombie virus?" – Jeremie squinted his eyes in thought.

"That's right! Think about it, Catherine-2 here can't be controlled. Using a specter to do that would just defeat the purpose of making her a puppet that can't be turned. So we use XANA's old virus from that attack…I mean, he must still have it in his records." – Ken explained, half to himself.

"That makes sense but you know XANA won't let me have those codes. I'm already in trouble if XANA finds out I stole the DNA." – Jeremie shook his head.

"Are you chickening out now?" – Ken scoffed. – "Just think about what you can do if this thing works. XANA will repay you big time and screw that disobeying his orders."

It took a little more convincing until Jeremie finally came around. XANA was to entranced with Willis-16's training and instruction. Reluctantly and nervously, Jeremie hacked into XANA's memory and copied the codes.

It was with a face of someone walking to his hanging that Jeremie infused the zombie virus into Catherin-2. The clone continued inactive even though minutes ticked by.

"Well, looks like I just staked my neck for nothing." – Jeremie muttered giving Ken a sideways glance. Then the red alarm fired up on Jeremie's interface. Ken just shouted exasperatedly:

"What's going on?"

"Oh, no! The clone has been infected with a virus!" – Jeremie groaned examining the mainframe.

"Of course it has. You just infused it in her."

"That's not it!" – Jeremie retorted. – "According to the analysis, a virus was injected in her before this one!"

CRASH!

The glass cylinder shattered with a single punch thrown by the clone. Startled, Ken and Jeremie took several steps back from the green liquid and shards of glass. Catherine-2 took abrupt steps, growling in either pain or anger. She finally came to a halt and dropped her head, eyes on the ground.

"Oh, great now what?" – Ken muttered.

"I knew this was gonna end badly." – the blond groaned. – "Now my project is ruined and I have cleanup to do."

"Blood…" – a voice whispered.

"What was that?" – Ken said but Jeremie shushed him.

"Blood…" – the voice was Catherine-2's. The two XANA Warriors watched warily as the clone's head shot back up and looked at them with lifeless eyes.

"Need…blood!" – her mouth opened wide and hissed. Both males couldn't avoid shrieking at the sight of the two long, white fangs she flashed them. Catherine-2 jumped at Ken and pinned him on the ground. Ken watched with growing terror as she drew her jaws near his neck.

Fortunately Catherine-2 never had a chance to bite. Jeremie had slashed at her with his spikes and frozen her into an ice statue.

"Blitznack!" – Ken was hyperventilating. – "I always liked the idea of having a hungry naked girl on top of me, but now I draw the line!"

Jeremie gave him a 'no time for jokes' look. When Ken was back on his feet, the ice exploded and Catherine-2 was free again hissing and bearing her fangs at them.

"Do you think she's actually trying to…" – Ken cringed.

"Suck out our blood through our necks?" – Jeremie suggested. – "So it seems."

The vampire jumped at them again, but this time Ken countered with an Energy Disk. She simply deflected the energy with a hand wave. Jeremie used his ice powers again only find out she could easily break free.

"Let's get out of here!" – Ken ran outside the lab with Jeremie close behind followed by Catherine-2. Neither the three noticed Davis had been invisible the whole time in the lab:

"Unexpected twist. But still I can make it work." – he said, already thinking of a new strategy.

Outside, Ken and Jeremie were still trying to put osme distance between themselves and their bloodthirsty pursuer. Unfortunately she was picking up speed.

"See if you can hold her off, Icestein. Super Smoke!"

"Why you little! You can't leave me here!" – Jeremie shouted at the departing smoke, still running from the vampire. He looked back and saw Catherine-2 was gaining on him. – "Ok, been a long time since I used these."

Jeremie virtualized the skis on his feet and skied out of sight deeper into his home sector. Catherine gave up on the hopeless hunt and turned way, looking for slowed prey on which to feed of.

Ken was in the middle of a wide ice plateau, looking at his surroundings for in-coming enemies. He had just evaded that blood-sucking clone, but no sign of Jeremie. Ken relaxed until he felt a finger poking him on his back. Ken turned around just see Jeremie's fist connecting with his face hardly.

"Ouch!" – who knew Icestein could throw a punch. – "What's your problem?"

"Gee, I don't know!?" – Jeremie growled. – "Maybe it's because you left me to be VAMPIRE DESERT!"

"Oh, puh-lease! Not like you wouldn't do the same if our positions were reverse." – Ken protested. Jeremie frowned until he admitted defeat. – "Doesn't matter, Icestein. We need to warn the boss about this."

"Out of the question!" – Jeremie bellowed. – "XANA will have my head if he finds out what came out of my infractions."

"Too bad for you, Jack Frost. But I'm not gonna let that blood-sucker run around free throughout Lyaku."

"There's no need to warn XANA!" – Jeremie said with an edge on his voice. – "Not if he handle this the right way."

"Meaning?"

"Use your brain, Ken. She can't leave my home sector on her own. The only two people in here with blood are you and me. And to top it off, there are countless monsters crawling around. The moment one of them spots her, she's done for. Then we can just make up some excuse and XANA will never suspect a thing. Problem solved."

_In other part of the Dark Ice Sector…_

A lone Creeper was slicing in the middle of an icy canyon, completely oblivious to the fact he was been stalked by a predator. Catherine-2 jumped over the edge and landed on top of the monster. The Creeper couldn't even see his attacker before she sunk her fangs in its neck.

The monster went limp and Catherine-2 began to drain the blood. But there was no blood, not a drop to absorb. The vampire dropped the body and walked away looking for a new victim. One that actually had blood in its veins.

"Blood…" – she whispered menacingly.

The dead monster didn't explode like it normally would happen.

Minutes later two figures came into the canyon through the other way. Ken and Jeremie were walking, eyeing in every direction for danger.

"Look over there!" – Ken pointed at the inactive monster. Jeremie approached it and checked its energy signals by touching the XANA symbol:

"Gone. Completely dead."

"If it's dead then how come he didn't explode?"

Jeremie rolled the body and showed two holes in the creature's neck:

"Bite marks. Now do we know someone or something that likes to sink a pair of sharp fangs into people's necks?"- Jeremie dropped the body and walked back to Ken with growing anger. – "Tell me Ken, when you said XANA would repay me big time was this in your menu of fortune-telling?"

"Hey, don't point fingers at me, Icestein! You were the one who created Miss Blood-Sucker and let her loose."

"Oh, yeah? And you're the moron who convinced me to go against XANA just to get some brownies. And now just look at us! We're trying to track down a vampire and her most recent victim is now rising back from the dead right besides us and…" – Jeremie stopped talking and color drained from his face; Ken grew likewise pale. They both slowly turned their heads and looked at the now-not-so-dead Creeper. The monster was back on its figurative feet and said a single word:

"Blood…" – the Creeper opened his mouth and showed its newly grown white fangs. That was Jeremie's and Ken's cue to shriek like little girls.

"I thought you said he was deader than Frank Sinatra!" – Ken cried.

"It's XANA's zombie virus. Whenever Kiwi bit someone that person turned into a zombie." – Jeremie would have facepalmed but this was no time to block his sight. The two frightened humans took steps back as the Creeper slowly drew near.

"Ice!" – Jeremie hit the symbol with ice darts but the monster didn't disintegrate.

"Aim for his left side of the chest!" – Ken urged.

"What? How do you know that'll work?"

"Don't you ever see horror movies? Vampires can only be killed if their struck in the heart. Like this!" – Ken threw his sword like a spear and stabbed the Creeper right where its heart would be. But the monster didn't even wince and continue to drag itself towards them.

"Ok, new plan: forget the heart and go for the head!" – Ken called his sword back and hurled it. The blade severed the Creeper's head and the undead monster exploded at last. – "Phew, that actually worked. So this guy sucks blood like a vampire, but walks and dies like a zombie."

"Forget that!" – Jeremie spat impatiently. He then changed into a more concerned demeanor. – "This could be a bigger problem than I thought. If the mutation can be passed along with a single bite, Catherine-2 could raise an entire army of undead vampire monsters."

"Great, so we're gonna have an entire sector crawling with monsters after our necks." – Ken groaned.

"That could happen." – Jeremie thought grimly. – "But I think we may have a good chance. You noticed how this Creeper moved slowly?"

"Yeah, just like a zombie."

"Catherine-2 could actually run and was practically immune to anything we threw at her. My guess is her victims turn into weaker vampires."

"They're zompires!" – Ken snapped his fingers. Jeremie gave him a quirked eyebrow. – "They suck blood like vampires but walk like zombies."

"We're in the middle of a crisis and you keep coming with your jokes." – Jeremie said through clenched teeth.

"Well, better call them zompires than vambies." – Ken retorted. – "Where is this canyon going to anyway?"

"To the Bleak Valley, where most monsters in the Dark Ice Sector dwell when not on patrol. At the other end of the valley lies the Master Control Spire."

At this a grim thought occurred to Ken. While Gisaku had the core of Lyaku, as Sector 5 contained the core of Lyoko, each of the four outer sectors had a MCS, Master Control Spire. These special spires held their respective sector stable. But more importantly, they're also responsible for the stealth of the whole Lyaku. It was thanks to those four dark monoliths that the Digidestined hadn't yet found XANA's base.

The two continued walking throughout the canyon until they came into a valley. At the end of the canyon was a herd of Tarantulas walking lazily. Far in the horizon, at the edge of the valley they could spot the MCS.

"You there!" – Jeremie called the Tarantulas. – "Have you noticed anything strange going on?"

The monster turned to the two warriors and they all opened wide mouths, exposing their newly acquired fangs.

"Blood…" – the multitude of voices made the tow XANA Warriors' blood freeze.

"RUN!" – they both did so in the opposite direction.

_In the Bleak Valley…_

The valley was less foggy than most of the Dark Ice Sector. However, it's even paler tone of gray and several cracks made it look more desolated. The only landmark besides the canyon and mountains in the horizon was the Master Control Spire at the edge of the valley.

The MCS was like any other spire save for the red glowing runes carved all over it. Besides those, the Eye of XANA rested at the top. Catherine-2 gave the monument a look before resuming her search for prey.

"Bonjour, Cathy!" – Davis revealed himself standing beside the spire. Catherine-2 hissed and leaped at him.

"Flashstep!" – Davis moved out of her range with an astonishing speed.

"Blood!" – she roared.

"You wanna it? Then come here and…AAARGH!" – Davis cried out first in surprise and then in pain. Catherine-2 had surprised him, proving to be faster and more agile than he anticipated. She hardly sank her fangs into his neck and began to suck her meal.

The XANA Warrior felt his strength being drained as his blood. His body started to grow cold. He had to summon every bit of strength to release himself from Catherine's grip on his neck:

"Supernova!" – Davis body unleashed a wave of red energy swatting the vampire away. Davis was weakened but not out of the fight yet. Catherine-2 was back up in a blink; she had finally tasted blood and now craved for more.

"Ok, your French hickeys are feisty, I'll give you that." – Davis summoned his trident and prepared for another onslaught. He stood with his back turned to the spire, facing the vampire. Catherine-2 ran against her victim again but Davis didn't move. The distance between them kept decreasing…ten meters…five…four…three…two…one…

"Flashstep!" – Davis moved to the left just in time and Catherine-2 collided with the spire, demolishing it in the process. The debris fell all over her but she quickly released herself from them.

"Oops, she demolished one of XANA's precious MCSs." – Davis mock-wept. Another piece of his plan had gone smoothly. – "So far, so good. Great job, Cathy."

Catherine-2 was ready for another round but Davis had another plans. He used his weapon too quickly open a portal to his territory: the Dark Forest Sector. Catherine-2 was also caught in it and was transported away.

The Dark Forest was just that, a black-themed forest. The trees were dark, leafless and the branches were pointy and turned upside. This made the planets look like horned spikes erupting out of the soil. The dirt was dark grey and incapable of growing life.

"Welcome to my crib, Cathy." – Davis announced pleasantly. – "Feel free to give some more French kisses in the neck, just so long I'm not included."

With that he flashstepped out of there and left his 'guest' to go bite the monsters stationed in that sector.

_In Gennai's Castle…_

Jose was typing on his computer, updating a status report when the scanner began to beep.

"What is this?" – the Gennai-look-alike muttered in his Spanish accent.

The scanners were picking up some strange audio that wasn't there before…and according to them, it was coming from an underground part of the Digital World. He began typing for the sound, trying to amplify it. It was mostly static but he picked up a few interesting messages to know where it was coming from:

"_XANA [static]…all Zompires [static] Super Smoke! [static]"_

"Computer, ran a scan. Identify voice pardon."

"_Voice identify as belonging to Ken Ichijouji's."_ – the computer responded. Jose knocked his fist into his other hand. He went to fetch Gennai and Hopper at once.

_On Bleak Valley, Jeremie and Ken…_

"Super Smoke!"

"Life Drainer!"

"Energy Disk!"

"Ice!"

The two had gone from one point of the Bleak Valley to the other, all the way destroying more zompires. However, up until now there had been no sign of the source of the infection and neither could say that made him unpleased.

"Phew!" – Ken panted. – "That was… a workout. But at least…we took care of 'em".

"Yeah." – Jeremie was exhausted but he saw the real problem. The two resumed walking, keeping an open eye for any zompires. – "But so far no Catherine-2."

"Can't say I'm disappointed with…Blitznack!" – Ken facepalmed when he turned around.

"What is it?" – Jeremie looked where his fellow warrior pointed and saw the debris of the MCS.

"Double Blitznack!" – Jeremie cursed using Ken's catchphrase. What they were about to hear next set their nerves even more on edge:

"**Jeremie, Ken! Come to my quarters immediately! There's a pressing emergency to attend to.**" – XANA massage was vague but enervating nonetheless.

A few minutes later in Sector Gisaku, the two were standing rigid in front of their master. TK and Davis were there as well.

"**Gentlemen, have any of you seen or heard anything…unusual?**"

"No, sir. Nothing at all." – Jeremie responded quickly but kept his cool.

"That's right! Nothing, nada. Things are A-ok, even dull." – Ken's words were trembling which gave him the wary eye of Jeremie and the suspicious one of XANA. TK was completely neutral and Davis could be seen smiling a little.

"**That's funny, because while overseeing Willis-16's training I felt a great decreased of control over my monsters. As if my monsters were disappearing one by one. And the strangest thing is: I only felt this happening in the Dark Ice Sector.**" – XANA turned to Jeremie. – "**Anything to say about this, Jeremie?**"

Jeremie kept his cool, but Ken couldn't hold it any longer. The long-sword warrior shouted:

"It's all Jeremie's fault!"

"What?" – Jeremie bellowed.

"He has gone behind your back to create a clone of Catherine and then infused her with your zombie virus. But that experiment turned her into a vampire, she got away and now is on the verge of turning all the monsters in Jeremie's territory into blood-sucking mindless zombies!"

Jeremie seemed ready to strangle Ken. Davis showed a puzzled face though within he was trying to withhold the laugher. XANA had no face but his confusion was obvious in his tone:

"**I don't know what kind of horror movies you've been watching Ken, but if…**" – XANA was cut off by a hard knock at the large and wide doors which left it dented. The door was knocked harder until the door collapsed and a Lobscion entered:

"Blood…" – upon hearing this, Ken and Jeremie went for their weapons.

"**Hey, you! Can't you see your master is in the middle of a meeting? Go back to your station!**"

"Blood…" – the Lobscion advanced on the four humans showing off its fangs.

"Telekinesis!" – TK used his mind to twist the monster's head off. After XANA demanded an explanation, Jeremie and Ken unloaded the whole truth. Jeremie wasted no time claiming that Ken was the one who talked him into injecting the zombie virus on his failed experiment.

"**If all these…zompires are infected with my old formula of the zombie virus, why can I not control them at will?**"

"Sir, I think it's the unknown virus!" – Jeremie said thoughtfully. – "When I administered the zombie virus, my computer detected an unknown compound that had been injected into her previously. This unknown compound is probably corrupting the zombie virus connection to you, making Catherine-2 and the zompires go wild."

"**Davis, you and TK will go your separate ways to the Dark Forest Sector. TK, take the Scyphozoa with you but instructed it to keep a low profile. If we have a chance to capture the little Frankenstein monster, take it. But don't do it if there's a chance the Scyphozoa could get infected.**"

"Why are we going to my sector, sir?" – Davis said, transpiring confusion. – "I thought the vampire was in the Dark Ice Sector."

"**While out two little mad scientists were spilling the beans.**" – XANA indicated the embarrassed Ken and Jeremie with a growl. – "**I made a quick scan and turns out she escaped Jeremie's territory and found her way into yours.**"

"**Ken and Jeremie are going to the Dark Ice Sector to clean up the mess she left there. And Davis, tell your monsters to destroy any infected creature on sight and stay away from the little Frankenstein monster.**"

"Understood, boss." – they all said and departed to their assigned tasks.

"Sir, why don't you use your powers to find and destroy Catherine-2?" – Ken asked carefully not to aggravate his boss even more. XANA growled in irritation:

"**Because of your little Frankenstein monster, I now have to put most of myself in an induced comma to repair the damage of the MCS. Otherwise, Franz Hopper and his bff Gennai will locate Lyaku. Oh, and when this crisis is over, I'm gonna have a little chat with you and Jeremie**."

Jeremie gulped but he still had to ask:

"What about Willis-16? Can't he help on the hunt? After all his capabilities are on par with our own."

"**Out of the question! Can you imagine if he became infected? Nothing could stop him. Now go!**"

_In the Dark Forest Sector…_

"Blood!" – two Kankrelats hissed and TK emotionlessly smashed them. He kept walking, hearing the unique sound of the Skyphozoa behind him. In other part of the same sector, was Davis close by his own Master Control Spire:

"_Now that XANA's asleep for a while, I think it's time for Act ll_." – he thought while glancing at in-coming Megatank:

"Blood…" – the monster bore his pointy fangs on the mouth in his symbol. It rolled against the XANA Warrior hungry for his blood. Davis decided to play to same game he did with Catherine-2.

The zompire was just a few meters to run him over when Davis flashstepped out of the way and the monster knocked down the MCS. Davis wasted to time in destroying the zompire then.

"_Two down. This should be enough to help Gennai poke his nose around_." – Davis made himself invisible again.

_Back on the castle…_

Jose had gathered a few of his co-workers, including Gennai and Franz Hopper. The faint electromagnetic emissions he had detected were identified as belonging to XANA. Hopper could recognize the mark of his creation's work.

"But how come we've traced XANA by sheer luck now when we've been trying virtually ever since he arrived to the Digital World?" – Gennai questioned.

"XANA has definitely been using some kind of stealth technology to hide Lyaku from our sights since the beginning." – Franz Hopper explained. – "But now…"

An alarm beeped and Jose went for the mainframe. He analyzed the data input and found even more good news:

"Brothers, we just began receiving even more emissions." – Jose announced. Quickly everyone scattered to their own computers, trying to detect, track and even record said emissions.

"This time we can actually get un-static audio."

"I'm getting a visual!"

"It's as if XANA's stealth has weakened even more."

This time, the Order manages to have a video of the lair of the enemy. The quality was poor but they finally had triumphed after such long time.

"We're getting a fix on Lyaku's coordinates. Scanners confirm XANA's location is underground!" – someone relayed.

"I knew it!" – Gennai grinned triumphant.

"How deep?" – Hopper questioned:

"Still measuring…200 miles…500 miles…1000 miles…" – Jose spoke growing in anxiety. – "I don't believe it!"

"What is it, brother?" – Gennai asked. Jose looked at his associates grimly.

"XANA's lair is not just underground. It's within our world's core." – the news were received with shocked silence but everyone quickly returned to their tasks.

"Gennai, it appears XANA is mostly offline for some reason. His signs are barely alive."

"That might be just what we needed. Marco, make sure you break into every systems unnoticed, record everything that might appear useful. Jose, keep monitoring XANA's signals and let me now the second he blinks. Everyone, we need a research as wide as possible, as fast as possible and as stealthy as possible." – Gennai gave the orders.

"Gennai, should we try to open a Digital Gate just to test it out?"

"No, that might alert XANA. For now we watch and hear."

_With Davis…_

"Hello again, Cathy." – Davis mock-saluted. The vampire just snarled at him:

"Blood!"

"You know, I still haven't thanked you for those French hickeys." – Davis manned his trident. – "Here's my appreciation: Red Giant!"

Davis hurled a massive ball of bright red heat against the vampire but she dodged it with ease. She attacked but Davis flashstepped away. He stopped right behind her:

"Supernova!" – the burst erupting from Davis tossed her against a dark tree. – "This is my territory, Cathy, and here's a lesson: never challenge a predator in his habitat."

He snapped his finger and another tree erupted beneath Catherine-2, impaling her. She roared in pain but also in fury. Davis neared his trapped prey and admired one last time the naked figure:

"Too bad, we could have been a cute couple." – he replaced the trident with his sword and cut off her head. Catherine-2 ceased to move and exploded.

_Later, at Gisaku…_

"**Jeremie, your laboratory is now terminated.**" – XANA sentenced. The zompire crisis was over and it was time to pay the piper. – "**You'll hand over all your projects to me and not participate in anymore secret agendas. Also for the next three months, you will perform half of the patrol duties, am I clear?**"

"Yes, sir." – Jeremie groaned on the inside. Patrol was demeaning work done by the monsters.

"**And you Ken, you will also be part of the patrol. Understood?**" – Ken also responded affirmatively. – "**I hope I don't have to remind you two how important keeping Lyaku safe is, now that I've lost more than a quarter of my horde of monsters.**"

"Yes, sir." – they both repeated. XANA's response was stern:

"**Good, for I had to drain a great portion of energy to repair the Master Control Spires. Because of those losses, any future attacks or progresses on the XDestined Project will have to be postponed. And I am rather impatient to see my newest creations crush those wretched Digidestined.**"

Davis later returned to his domain to rest, but also to celebrate. Even if any celebration only took place in his mind. Nonetheless, it was exhilarating to feel such triumph all at once:

"_XANA will be out for the count for a while, his beloved XDestined Project stalled and Gennai and co just figured out where XANA lives. And best of all, XANA doesn't have a clue about that."_ – Davis smirked with a victorious joy. – "_Could this day get any better? I think not! Everything's going according to the plan."_

_That night, on the castle of the Order…_

"We managed to dig out a handful of XANA's secrets." – Gennai said more to himself than to Hopper. The two were having a talk about what to do now. The operation had been a success. They had the location of XANA's hiding place, his forces were weakened for now and the best was that he didn't even suspect a thing. Many were ready to believe this was a miracle.

"Still I would have preferred if we got something more on the XDestined Project." – Hopper opined. The information about said project they found to be heavily encrypted and rigged. Just the attempt to touch it could have alerted XANA. – "All we know is that it's a weapon meant to use against the children."

"We may have a shot to solve that problem. This could be our only change for a pre-emptive strike." – Gennai stated. – "I'm going to contact the Digidestined. Hey must come here to talk at once."

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

Eighty-two years later, General Davis Motomyia was walking out of the Imperial Palace. His mind still recalled the days before XANA stole his life and later his world. Another, better life and a better world. But that was the past. The dead past and Davis never dwelled in the past.

"_This isn't the first time I have to take a stand against those in power. Even if I have to go against my government to do it. Even if I have to point a gun at the Emperor and pull the trigger, I'll do it for my people._"

* * *

><p><span>Non-canon scene:<span>

Davis was walking in an poor street in the human world that night. After the zompire crisis was solved, XANA allowed Davis that night off since he was the one who took out Catherine-2.

And now the XANA Warrior was thinking about having some fun as icing on the cake for that perfect day. A girl he had picked up was with him, slightly drunk from the liquor. They were on a one time date, just for the night. But Davis had plans to end the night specially.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" – she said in a sloppy tone.

"To a special place." – he leered.

"Oh, what? You wanna find a place to make out?" – she smirked. Davis smirked back but had other plans.

"Not really." - he gave her a predatory smile. – "I'm not in the mood for making out, now. But, I'm really…thirsty."

Before she could say anything else, Davis buried his fangs in her neck. She screamed in horror and pain but could do nothing else as Davis sucked his meal out of her.

**Happy Halloween! Bwah-ah-ah! To see Davis' new powers go to my profile on deviantart. I updated his second XANA attire. Yeah, I know is powers are all references to astronomy.**


	30. Ep 27 Break the Chains PART I

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 27: Break the Chains PART I**

**Disclaimer:**** I only own the plot **

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3) **

**the Lobscion (Episode 6) **

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon/Renardmon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Zompires (Episode 26)**

**PS: TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED TO THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD APPRECIATE IF THEY REVIEWED AGAIN IN A GUEST ACCOUNT. JUST TO COMPARE THE TWO VERSIONS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.**

** This is a chapter many having been waiting for. It begins like its previous version but it incorporates different details to be canon with the Great Burn. I apologize if seems a little OOC Kari, but the fight with XANA can push people, know what I mean. **

_Paris, Espérance Palace, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

"Found you!" – a little boy, Antoine, shouted after finding his sister, Isabelle, behind a curtain. The two young siblings were playing hide and seek in the Espérance Palace, the residence of the President, at night. The palace was built to replace the Élysée Palace which was lost in the Great Burn. Much of the inner Paris was still scorched. But eighty-two years of reconstruction had done wonders, even if the country remained far behind its former glory.

Their father was the Prime Minister and today he had been allowed to bring his children with their nanny, since his house was being rebuilt. The two children continued running until they entered an office with wealthy but worn out furniture. The single window was blocked by a large desk with a tall revolving chair turned to the window. If there was anyone sitting in there, they couldn't tell.

"Antoine! Isabelle!" – a young lady said, finally finding the two kids. She quickly entered the office and took both of them by the hand. – "You shouldn't be here."

"But the door was open, Miss Bernadette." – Isabelle said in her meek voice.

"Isabelle, this is the President of France's office. He's the only one who can allow anyone here." – Bernadette said. – "That's why we have to go. We can't…"

"No." – a weary voice said in a commanding tone. – "It's alright. It's some time since I heard a child laughing, anyway."

The voice came from the chair which spun to meet the three people. Sitting on it was the aging Jeremie Belpois, President of the French Republic.

"Mr. President, I apologize…" – Bernadette's plead was excused by Jeremie's hand wave. He focused then on the kids.

"What are your names, hu?" – he asked, though he already knew.

"Antoine." – the boy said. – "This is my sister, Isabelle. She's always smiling."

That was true enough. Ever since Jeremie laid eyes on the two of them, the little girl hadn't break her smile.

"Yes, and that's good, you know. Those who face life with a smile and looking up are the ones who make the world a better place. Those who just frown and get serious are only bringing despair to themselves and those around them." – the President said, somewhat distracted. He then regained his composure and smiled. – "Now what can I do for you two, since your hide-and-seek game was ruined?"

"Tell us a story! A true story." – Isabelle said enthusiastically.

"Isabelle! The President doesn't…" – Bernadette scolded.

"No, there's no problem. And what about you, Antoine?"

"I want a story of super-heroes and villains and monsters and adventures!"

"I see." – Jeremie sighed. – "Then I'll give you both what you want: a true story of super-heroes, villains, monsters and adventures. You know, this palace is called 'hope'. Hope is usually underrated…"

_Year 2002 AD, Paris, Lab in the factory…_

"Are you sure of this?" – Kari asked.

"_I am._" – Hopper nodded. He was reporting on his findings to the Digidestined in Japan and the ones in Paris through the computer. – "_Not only we found XANA's home, we also have a way to get there._"

"And you're sure XANA is too weak to launch an attack right away, Daddy?" – Aelita asked. Hopper had informed them of the now called zompire crisis** (Episode 26: French Kiss)** on Lyaku which had cost XANA much energy.

"_I am, Aelita. I would say…three months tops. But there's something that especially caught our interest: something called the XDestined Project._" – Hopper continued. – "_From what we gathered, it's a weapon to be used against you. Its nature however, we ignore. It was hard enough to get this little strand of information._"

"So let's go to Lyaku and smash this weapon before XANA can launch it." – Labramon barked.

"Oh, sure!" – Tsukaimon scoffed on William's shoulder. – "Rushing straight into the Ogremon's cave without a plan, first. Great idea, _Kiwi_. What's next on your deathwish menu?"

"That's enough, Tsukaimon." – William muttered, trying to avoid another fight between the two digimon.

"But Labramon brought out a good point. We have to take this chance." – Cody opined from the other vertex of the triangle. And so they started making was; someone was eavesdropping on their secret planning. Someone unwelcomed.

"**Yes, kids! Plan all you like. As long as I have an ear and an eye on your meetings, I'll always be one step ahead of you.**" – XANA would grin if he had a mouth, watching the screen display the recording of the Digidestined meeting. He summoned his warriors after he was done overhearing his enemies' plan.

"**Gentlemen, we have a problem. Tomorrow, the Digidestined will be launching a sneaky attack in here to attempt to destroy Project XDestined.**" – XANA explained. – "**The old school digidorks plan to activate 6 spires all over the Server Continent as a decoy. Their real game is to send their other troops here.**"

"But boss, how do they know where we are?" – Davis asked, though he already had a good guess.

"**As we all know, the so-called zompire crisis**" – XANA paused for effect which made Ken and Jeremie cringe. After all, it was officially their fault. What nobody knew was that Davis had engineered the whole thing. – "**knocked out two of the MCSs. Turns out while we were all distracted, Gennai and his little bff club tracked our location and hacked into Lyaku's memory.**"

Ken and Jeremie seemed to shrink with every second, as if expecting more berating for that mistake. Fortunately for them XANA carried on without mentioning their fault again:

"**So my counterplan is to make them believe we fell for it. I'll send a squad of monsters to each tower to keep this charade. And then…**"

"Master, are you sure that's wise?" – Jeremie interrupted. – "Our forces are already decreased and sending them on an unnecessary battle…"

"**I don't like been cut off when I'm speaking, Jeremie!**" – XANA interrupted him back. – "**And need I remind you it was your and Ken's fault we're in such situation?**"

"No, sir." – Jeremie muttered, looking down in aggravation. Ken was also uncomfortable for his name been pulled in.

"**But fortunately for you, I know how to turn this wannabe invasion into our favor. They plan to virtualize into separate group for each outer-sector. Once they're here, you four will ambush them and then…I will unleash the fruit of the project they seek to destroy onto them.**" – XANA chuckled darkly. – "**I can already smell the irony. My enemies destroyed by what they came all this way to finish off.**"

"Actually, it's called poetic justice in this case." – Jeremie corrected.

"**You're ruining the mood, Jeremie.**" – XANA groaned.

"Boss, I have a question." – Davis spoke with a growing leer. – "If Willis-16 is supposed to be the 'fruit of Project XDestined' like you said, does that mean he's a _fruity_?"

Everyone else just gave a weird look at Davis. If XANA could, he'd have sweatdrop.

_That afternoon, on Tai and Kari's room…_

Kari was already in her pajamas and Gatomon was napping in her bed, wrapped around herself like an ordinary cat. The other two digimon in there were Tokomon and Chibomon (DemiVeemon's previous form), TK's and Davis partners' respectively. The two had been living with the Kamiya siblings for some time.

"Guys, tomorrow we're going to Lyaku…and I was thinking if you two would like to come with us." – she had no response. The two just kept looking at nothing in particular, crestfallen. Kari sighed. – "Guys, I know this hurts to be so long separated from your friends, but…when Tai lost MetalGreymon he didn't just stood moping about it." – Kari mentally reminded herself that only after Matt 'reasoned' with him only Tai began to walk forward.

"I know lately XANA has been winning but we now have a chance. If we take it we may be able to hurt XANA in return. But we must have hope it will work."

"Why bother?" – Tokomon replied in his baby voice. – "Every time we tried XANA just came back and took another friend from us."

"When you sacrificed yourself to beat Devimon, TK didn't let himself go down." – Kari retorted. – "He sacrificed himself for me and there's no way I'm crying my heart out! Think of what TK and Davis would do if they were in your places."

That seemed to pull their attention; they both turned to look at her but then went back to the crestfallen mode. Kari sighed inwardly and turned around; there was nothing else to do there. Gatomon, having been awaken by Kari's voice, leaped from her bed and followed.

"I think you did well." – she said, walking on all fours. – "I would have just beaten sense into them."

"Hopefully, Cody managed to convince Minomon." – Kari said silently.

The two went into the living-room to find Nat-chan as if expecting them. Gatomon tensed up a little. The digimon were not very welcoming of Nat-chan. They all knew from DemiVeemon's and Mimi's report on their adventure to New York with Davis. Nat-chan could turn into a giant, savage, mindless digimon. The digimon were wary of her and they wanted her away from their human friends. But when was suggested she should remain in the digital world, Aelita had intervened.

_Flashback:_

_ "She should stay with us. She's alone and keeping her alone won't solve anything." – Aelita then spoke to everyone. – "When I went through the Door of the Decay, I saw all the digimon who lost their partners because of XANA. It was…horrible."_

_ "We could do nothing to help them or their friends. But if I have the chance to help someone out of that loneliness, I'll take it." – Aelita took Nat-chan's hands in hers._

_ "You don't have to be alone anymore, Nat-chan. You're among friends now."_

_End of Flashback._

Kari had supported her firmly and a deal was arranged: every three days, the Digidestined would alternately let the girl-digimon stay with them. In time, they would search for any lead of her origins. Nat-chan had no memory of her past, and couldn't even tell if she was a digimon or human.

Tai and Kari had convinced their parents Nat-chan was a friend from somewhere else and was invited to stay. Still, Nat-chan only seemed to appreciate human company and didn't feel comfortable around digimon.

"I want to go too." – she said like simply asking for some small change.

"What?"

"I know you're going against XANA tomorrow. I can feel it." – Nat-chan said. There was that strange power of hers to know what other people were feeling.

"Nat-chan," – Kari sighed. – "what we're doing is dangerous."

"Davis is my friend. If you're going to help him, I want to help too. That's what friends do."

Kari could tell she would insist relentlessly. She knew Nat-chan would do anything for someone who had cared for her. Even if her…somewhat wild instincts complicated matters. Kari could see a gogglehead like Davis capable of pulling someone like Nat-chan out of their loneliness. That must be why she was drawn to him in that Winter world…

A sudden mischievous idea flashed into Kari's mind. She would put her to test if their mission tomorrow went smoothly. Plus Nat-chan was still a little green on the interaction between boys and girls.

"_Maybe she just needs to have more just-girls time._" – with that in mind, Kari responded. – "Ok, Nat-chan. You can go."

Gatomon gave Kari a half-surprised, half-warning look. Nat-chan thanked and turned around. She was naïve but wasn't stupid; Nat-chan knew Gatomon wasn't thrilled to have her around.

"Nat-chan, hold on." – Kari said awkwardly. – "I have some clothes that would look really cute on you. Come on!"

Without another word, the digidestined pulled the other girl by the hand into her room. Gatomon _really_ wasn't thrilled about it.

_Next day, on Gennai's Castle…_

"Is everyone ready?" – the sentient bubble that was Franz Hopper asked, manning the interface. Aelita's and Kari's groups were with him in the virtualization room. Cody had brought Minomon while Kari had DemiVeemon, Nat-chan and Tokomon with her. However, only the last two would accompany them into Lyaku.

"_Everything clear from my end._" – Gennai announced. Aelita had previously materialized the digital man into the laboratory. He would be controlling the supercomputer in this operation.

"_We're good to go, too."_ – Izzy communicated. The veterans and their partners were scattered throughout the Server Continent watching their assign control spires. – "_XANA is sending in his monsters. So far, everything is going good._"

All the digidestined and respective partners, plus Nat-chan and Tokomon, were inside the wide scanner. Kari gave one last reassuring look at DemiVeemon and Minomon before the cylinder closed.

"Beginning virtualization. Target: Lyaku. Transfer, scanner, virtualization!" – Hopper typed and the heroes were then virtualized into different parts of the enemy's domain.

There was no sky. The all of Lyaku appeared to be beneath a dome of solid rock with hundreds of holes. That was actually the mantle of the Digital World which surrounded an empty core.

"Not a pretty sight, is it?" – Armadillomon commented. He, Cody, Yumi and Renardmon were surrounded by some kind of dark trees that looked like thorns and horns coming out of the ground. The earth was greyish and lifeless.

"I think it's safe to assume we arrived at the Dark Forest Sector." – Renardmon spoke in her timid voice.

Meanwhile, Odd, Labramon, Yolie and Hawkmon fell into the bottom of a hole. Hawkmon glided while Labramon and Yolei touched the floor with their behind first.

"Ouch! That hurt." – Yolei groaned. The surprise came when Odd landed on the barren, bleak dirt face first.

"Did you just land on your face?" – Yolei raised an eyebrow at the cat warrior while Labramon checked on him. – "Geez, what kind of cat are you Odd?"

"Where are we?" – Odd questioned, rubbing your face.

"I flew high enough to see the place." – Hawkmon said. – "We're in the desert. A very barren and dead desert."

Ulrich, Goamon, Tsukaimon and William landed painfully on an iceberg in the cold and foggy environment of the Dark Ice Sector. Kari, Gatomon and Nat-chan were in a plateau of pure rock at high altitude, the Dark Mountain Sector.

"_The virtualization went well. Everyone landed in their assigned territories._" – Hopper communicated.

"Where's Aelita, Lunamon and Tokomon? They were supposed to be with us." – Gatomon said.

"_The scanner has malfunctioned and couldn't virtualize so many at once. They're still here._"

"Can't you send them in now?" – Kari asked Hopper.

"_No, the equipment has overloaded. It will take some hours to fix and in the meantime I won't be able to virtualize you back._"

"Oh, great. So now we're stuck here." – Yolei groaned from her hand. The four teams could communicate through the D-Terminals.

"It's worse than that. If we're destroyed here, we're dead." – Yumi sighed.

"_Yes, but we have to keep going. This is probably our only chance to infiltrate XANA's home_." – Hopper said.

_In Gisaku…_

"**I can't believe how idiotic they are.**" – XANA's tone was exhilarated, incredulous and even disappointed. – "**Classic human stupidity. Coming here while my forces are at a low state is one thing. But dividing their numbers and hopping around my territory while having no way to return home is pure idiocy! Unbelievable!**"

His warriors were all listening to his mumblings, though one of them was thinking his own opinions about it. Davis couldn't help but mentally agree with XANA.

"_Hate to admit it, but XANA's right. This plan of theirs is rash; they practically signed up their death warrants. Splitting up the group and putting most of their team guarding decoy towers? There's no sense._"

"**Since they want to die apart so badly, I'll oblige.**" – XANA turned to his subordinates. – "**Let's play a little game with our guests. Just to pass the time before disposing of them.**"

"_I think the Digidestined are only _acting_ stupid, but you're the one being stupid, XANA. You should wipe them out now that you have a chance instead of toying with them. You still underestimate the human mind and that's gonna be your doom."_ – Davis thought, mentally shaking his head at his 'master'.

_In the Dark Ice Sector…_

The two swordsmen, Ulrich and William and their digimon, Gaomon and Tsukaimon, had just crossed into the Bleak Valley. Slowly, the fog seemed to be clearing.

"So far, no monsters. I don't like this." – Ulrich frowned.

"I say we'll run into something bad in less than 5 minutes." – Tsukaimon betted. And he was right for the sound of a bird-of-prey echoed.

"Mantas!" – William called his halberd. But the monsters were about a kilometer away and not in-coming.

"Look, they're chasing something." – Gaomon pointed at a white small figure running away from the two Mantas. – "Let's go help."

"Hold onto us." – Ulrich said. Each digimon grabbed his own partner and they flew rapidly to the enemies.

In less than five seconds, Ulrich and William were over the two monsters and sliced them. The victim they were persecuting was, surprisingly, a digimon. A small polar bear armed like a soldier.

"Hi! I'm Kumamon. Thanks for saving me."

"What's a punny-looking digimon like you doing here?" – Tsukaimon asked.

"Tsukaimon!" – William scolded. The rookie however noticed something familiar when he glanced at the eye twitching Kumamon did:

"I was captured by those things and brought here a day ago. XANA has been keeping me here in Lyaku ever since."

"Ok…" – Ulrich gave a quick glance to the other three. – "Do you know how to get to Gisaku?"

"Yeah. There's a secret passageway I found out. This way." – Kumamon half-walk, half-ran and after the four heroes gave each other knowing looks, they followed.

_Meanwhile, in the Dark Forest Sector…_

"We've walking for two hours and nothing." – Armadillomon complained. – "This place is creepy."

"I know but we have to continue, Armadillomon." – Cody said. The four were walking in what looked like the 'Dark forest of Death'. – "Though it's strange we haven't ran into a monster or something."

Renardmon suddenly went stiff and her fur stood on edge. She hissed at her surroundings, turning her head to every direction like a prey who knows it's being stalked.

"What is it, Renardmon?" – Yumi called out her fans.

"Someone's watching us." – she groaned, her eyes showing fierceness.

Indeed someone was. Davis, invisible, was stalking his enemies from behind the bizarre trees.

"_What were they thinking coming here?_" – Davis thought irritated. – "_If their goal was to destroy Project XDestined, they wouldn't have done this… unless, that _isn't_ their goal._"

_In the Dark Mountains…_

The environment was tense but wasn't just because of the non-presence of the enemy. It was due to Gatomon constantly keeping an eye both for in-coming threats and for Nat-chan. Kari noticed this and whispered to her partner:

"Gatomon will you please stop giving those sideways looks at Nat-chan."

"I don't trust her. I can feel in my whiskers she's vicious down there." – Gatomon hissed in silence.

"I can hear the two of you just fine." – Nat-chan said from behind. Gatomon turned to her with the same eyes she used to give Myotismon.

"Then I don't have to hide it from you anymore." – Gatomon hissed. – "I don't like the way you look at Kari, as if she's your partner. That may have worked with Davis but not with _my partner!_"

Nat-chan snarled like no human would and neared the cat menacingly. Gatomon sharped her claws, ready to jump on her.

"Stop!" – Kari put herself between them. – "We have to stop fighting and work as a team. That's why we're here."

Then the air itself exploded and the three girls were tossed away. Kari was the first to open her eyes and saw Gatomon lying unconscious after hitting a rock with her head. Nat-chan was just recovering her senses. Kari looked at their attacker:

"TK!"

Takeru Takaishi walked towards his victims with the cold and deadly precision of a knife.

"TK, listen to me." – Kari pleaded but TK used his Telekinesis to shut her lips. Immobilized, Kari floated to TK who already had a katara unsheathed.

"I hate the light." – he whispered. – "You reek of light!"

Gatomon was still out and Kari was within TK's grasp, about to have her throat slit. Out of nowhere Nat-chan pushed TK away and he dropped Kari on the ground.

"Don't touch her." – she roared at him. TK looked at his new enemy and shouted:

"Despair!" – Kari couldn't believe she had forgotten how horrible TK's attack felt. The nightmares that always plagued her in the back of her mind her now stronger and much more alive, playing in front of her eyes. Darkness swallowing all light. The Dark Ocean.

A scream waked her up. Kari looked up to see Nat-chan grabbing her head. But the digimon girl was standing up and facing the XANA Warrior. TK seemed actually surprised about that:

"Cold…lonely." – Nat-chan stammered. – "I never liked that…and you…" – she looked at TK with anger. – "forced me to endure it all over again!"

She took a step forward and TK took one back. For the first time since had been possessed, TK was feeling nervous, almost afraid.

"You've made me…very angry!" – she growled. – "People shouldn't make me angry. They won't like me when I'm angry!"

Nat-chan's body began to grow darker. She expanded until she was a behemoth. The gigantic digimon roared at the XANA Warrior and slashed at him. Now TK understood just one thing: he was really screwed.

_In the Dark Ice Sector…_

"There it is." – Kumamon indicated a small tunnel opening between two icebergs. The whole structure seemed ready to collapse at any minute. – "That leads to XANA's hiding place."

"Ok, thanks for the shortcut, Kumamon." – William appreciated with narrowed eyes. He exchanged a quick sideways nod with Ulrich. – "But first things first."

The winged swordsman gave a rapid roundhouse kick to the polar bear digimon who was knocked into a wall of ice. The two digidestined and digimon turned to Kumamon, ready to attack.

"Hey, what's your problem?" – Kumamon asked, outraged.

"Enough with the charade." – Ulrich roared. – "You think we're stupid?"

"Just turn to normal already, _Jeremie_." – William muttered. Sure enough, 'Kumamon' form twisted until it turned into a very annoyed Jeremie Belpois. – "You couldn't have been more obvious, you know. That power can't trick us anymore."

"What gave me away?" – the ice warrior asked through clenched teeth.

"You think a digimon who's only been here one day could have figured out a shortcut to Gisaku?" – Tsukaimon questioned as if Jeremie was only five years old. – "Besides, most digimon don't even know XANA's name. They just call him the New Enemy."

"Give up." – Gaomon clenched his gloved fists. – "It's four against one."

"I don't think so." – Jeremie summoned four Mantas and four Blocks.

_In the Dark Forest…_

"Where is it coming from, Renardmon?" – Yumi asked. Her partner was once again feeling the vibes. Armadillomon had armor-digivolved into Digmon and Yumi had her fans prepared.

"I don't know. It's as if it's coming from everywhere, but with no direction. Like it's coming…" – her eyes went wide. – "from beneath us!"

Just then the ground under their feet gave in and the four fell in a hole of about three meters depth. Before they could attempt to escape, the exit closed.

"Is everyone ok?" – Cody asked.

"I would be, if someone could turn on a light." – Digmon sighed. Yumi used her powers to lighten up her body and illuminate the underground prison. They could also see their jailer, Davis.

"You!" – Yumi held her fans ready to strike at him. Renardmon and Digmon also prepared to attack. – "Don't move a muscle."

"I wasn't going to. I just came here to talk." – Davis smiled. His expression was different than the one they were accustomed to. And so was his outfit now that they've noticed. Davis no longer had that demonic look. His attire remained black but now had red lines and completely human features. He noticed their gaze:

"You like my new look? Comes with new powers too. But enough about me; you're the stars of the day."

"Don't play games with us. You work for XANA." – Cody retorted.

"But I'm the reason you guys are making this invasion in the first place. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have this chance." – Davis countered. Yumi quirked an eyebrow:

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I cause the whole 'zompire crisis' that let Gennai hack into XANA and weakened the defenses of Lyaku." – Davis admitted proudly.

"Why would XANA let that happen in the first place?" – Digmon asked, dubious.

"Because XANA never authorized that." – Davis rolled his eyes. – "If you haven't gotten the picture yet, I'm not working for him anymore."

The heroes all exchanged doubtful looks without taking their attention of Davis.

"You can distrust me all you want. But it's the truth." – Davis paused. – "Though I have to admit, you guys did well. At first I thought you had really lost it, coming here in divided teams with no way of going back…XANA underestimates you, but I don't. I got no idea what you're up to, but I hope it's good enough to teach that bozo a lesson."

"And why are telling us all of that? Can't XANA find out you're backstabbing him?" – Renardmon asked.

"I know how to hide my tracks. FYI, I'm hiding our chit-chat from him right now."

"I don't believe you." – Cody said firmly. – "You say you're not working for XANA, but you're not the Davis I knew."

"Bull's eye! I'm not your goofy gogglehead friend, but I'm not XANA's puppet. Not anymore anyway." – Davis smirked. – "Moving on, I don't know why you came here, and I don't care. I came only to warn you: Project XDestined is much bigger than you think."

"How big?" – Yumi questioned.

_Back in the mountains…_

Nat-chan was actually giving TK a piece of her mind, and her mind was filled with mindless fury. The XANA Warrior was out-classed against the berserk digimon. His most powerful attack only made her angrier. He had tried to use his music but apparently the music didn't sooth the wild beast. His physical attacks were useless against an enemy of that size.

"Gatomon, you ok?" – Kari tended to her partner. Gatomon was still dozing a little.

TK did a good job avoiding the deadly claws but Nat-chan tossed him against a mountain and he fell unconscious. Nat-chan advanced on him, but Kari ran to her.

"Kari!" – Gatomon hissed.

"Nat-chan, stop!"

The giant digimon roared at the girl. While she couldn't talk, that was a clear 'out of my way' warning.

"Nat-chan, I know you don't want to be alone. And TK forced you to feel that again. But you don't have to do this." – Kari said softly, trying to appease the digimon. – "You don't have to be alone anymore. We are your friends now."

Nat-chan growls diminished in volume and her facial features softened. But before anything else, TK rose back up and stroke at high speed.

"Kari, watch out!" – Gatomon cried out running to her partner. Kari turned around just in time to see TK almost on top of her, kataras slashing. Nat-chan pushed Kari away with her paw but didn't have time to block TK's attack. His strike, powered by his anger, wasn't debilitating but was painful. Nat-chan left was injured and the digimon slowly shrunk back to her human form, clutching her arm.

TK paid her no heed and went for Kari instead. Gatomon jumped at him but TK used his Telekinesis to paralyze all three of them. He walked up to his prey and grabbed her by the neck, again.

"Prepare to join all the other digidestined I slaughtered." – he groaned spitefully. TK raised his katara, ready to unleash the deadly blow.

"Kari!" – Gatomon cried out.

And he slashed at her throat. Or would have, if his katara hadn't turned into dust before that. The XANA Warrior watch in astonishment as his whole armor began to suffer the same fate. TK's avatar turned to dust in a small explosion and the boy fell knocked out.

"She did it!" – Kari sighed in relief.

"**What?! What is this? What just happened?!**" – XANA didn't even bother to hide his presence, his confusion was genuine.

"You've lost, Binky-boy." – Kari used XANA's trademark nickname with an uncharacteristic triumphant smirk. – "You thought you were playing us while we were the ones tricking you the whole time."

_Flashback:_

_ "This is the perfect chance to strike at XANA!" – Ulrich announced. The digidestined on both corners of the world were in Gennai's castle, along with Tai and Matt. Gennai had just briefed them on their discovery of XANA's home and Ulrich's proposal was met with words of approve._

_ "You're saying we should go to Lyaku to destroy this XDestined thing?" – Gaomon asked._

_ "No." – it was Kari who spoke. When everyone turned to her, they could see a look of fire in her eyes that would make Tai very proud. – "This might be our only chance to hurt XANA. We have to use it for more than that."_

_ "What are you saying?" – Cody asked._

_ "I'm saying we have to risk it to save TK and the others." – her words were met with silence. Many felt like her but there was still one problem. There was no Hope for that._

_"Azulongmon said 'in order to save the four souls enslaved by the New Enemy', Hope and Light must be united." – Yumi quoted. – "Only putting those two together we can break XANA's possession."_

"_That's true, Yumi. But," – Aelita said thoughtfully. – "Daddy and I have been thinking about a program to release people from XANA's control. But up until now there has no results."_

"_But those are the good news." – Gennai said with a smile. – "One of the programs we managed to hack was the one XANA uses to control TK. Franz is right now working on a counter-measure to negate it."_

"_We can't break XANA's possession from without since we don't have TK. But if this program works, we can set him free. Then he and Kari can use their crests to set the others free."_

_That was received with hopeful gazes, especially from Matt._

"_We destroy XANA's secret weapon and get our friends back. Perfect payback!" – the veteran blond smirked._

"_But there's one problem. For this program to work without merging it with the Crest of Hope, it has to be inserted directly into XANA's brain: in the core of Lyaku." – Gennai said and explained the location of the core chamber, right beneath Gisaku._

"_And to top it off, all of our planning must be done here." – Gennai sighed. – "Turns out our suspicions are right: XANA has been monitoring every single one of you from a long time. This castle is the only place XANA's can't see you."_

"_You mean, all the time?" – Odd asked to which Gennai nodded. – "That sick jerk!"_

"_Wait!" – Aelita squinted. She was clearly having a brainstorm. – "If XANA thinks he knows our every move, let him believe that. I know how he thinks. XANA likes to play his sick games and thinks himself to always be on top. If we made a plan somewhere else, he would know. So my idea is…"_

"_Making him believe he knows our next move. Feeding him a false strategy of attack." – Yumi grinned. – "Jeremie would be proud of you!"_

_End of Flashback._

"**You tricked me!**" – XANA was more astonished than enraged.

"We were distracting you all along." – Kari continued. – "The real invaders were in the core of Lyaku this all time!"

XANA quickly turned his attention to the Core chamber in the depths of Gisaku, and to his surprise there was Aelita hacking into the mainframe, with Tokomon and Lunamon.

"**You!**" – hearing XANA's surprised and enraged tone, Aelita quickly picked up the two digimon and took flight out of there. – "**How did you got here without me detecting?**"

"You're not the only one who can use activated towers to have stealth." – Aelita said with a hint of gloating while flying away from the red pyramid. – "Kari and the others were the real decoys; the towers in the Sever Continent were not. They were hiding me so I could sneak in the core. Thanks for that tip, XANA."

"You gotta love the irony." – Yolei smirked from her end.

"Actually this case could be called poetic justice." – Hawkmon corrected.

Back with Kari's party, TK was starting to get up. Kari and Nat-chan helped him up.

"Kari…" – he mumbled, his legs shaking. TK wasted no time hugging her.

"Hey, guys!" - Aelita joined Kari's party and Tokomon goggled his eyes to his partner. The pink hamster leaped from Aelita's arms and when he was back in TK's, he was Patamon again.

"Patamon!" – human and digimon hugged each other. – "I'm so sorry for…"

"_Guys, hate to interrupt the love reunion, but we can't hold these two much longer."_ – Yolei said through her D-terminal. Shurimon and Odd had Ken pinned to the ground while William and Ulrich had Jeremie immobilized.

"Gatomon, you ready?" – the digimon nodded. – "TK, we need MagnaAngemon."

"You ready, buddy?" – TK picked up his D-3.

_Gatomon super-digivolve to…Angewomon!_

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon! Angemon super-digivolve to…MagnaAngemon!_

"Gennai, Franz!" – Kari said. – "Time for phase 2. Launch the program."

Gennai, on France, and Hopper on the castle ran the same program that Aelita inserted in the core. But this time was been spread throughout the whole Lyaku.

"**What is this?**" – XANA roared as an orb of white light began to grow on the sky of Lyaku.

"Heaven's Charm!"

"Soul Banish!"

They fired the attacks at the light and combined energies of the two crests made it explode. A curtain of light enveloped Lyaku and when it faded the two captive XANA Warriors had been devirtualized.

"_It worked! The scanners just materialized Ken and Jeremie."_ – Gennai announced. Throughout the four outer sectors, cheers exploded. Finally the lost friends were back.

Aelita felt her heart flying as if it had wings of its own. She executed a pirouette in the air to express her joy. William and Ulrich bumped fists, in the ice sector.

"Yolei…I know you're happy…but you're smothering me!" – Shurimon choked under Yolei's tight embrace. But then Nat-chan was the first to speak:

"What about Davis?"

"_There's nothing in coming. He wasn't devirtualized._"

"Hey, guys!" – Kari turned to see Yumi, Youkomon, Cody and Armadillomon coming from the Dark Forest Sector. The boy and the Rookie rode the Champion while Yumi flew under her own power. – "We've got a problem. Davis ran away."

Yumi proceeded to explain everything to them since they lost contact with the rest. Davis had given the impression he wasn't taking orders from XANA anymore.

"He knew we were up to something. He escaped before we could contain him." – Cody added. Nat-chan was crestfallen and Kari noticed that but before anyone could decide what to do next, XANA's angry roar was heard:

"**You think you have won? Guess again! I am the mastermind XANA! I won't be taken down by some worthless humans and their inferior digital pets! All monsters to me!**"

The ground shock up as monsters were virtualized in the three sectors. Dozens of Tarantulas, Krabs, Creepers and Hornets. The Megatanks, Lobscions and Mantas ranged in fewer numbers. But the Kankrelats and Blocks were by the hundreds. XANA laughed in triumph.

"**I hope coming here to save your worthless friends was worth it, 'cause you're not getting out of here to see them again.**"

"_Children, XANA's summoning every single monster he has. Even those he sent after our towers. I estimate over 500 monsters."_ – Hopper informed sounding alarmed.

"I don't think so, XANA." – Aelita retorted. – "That was always your flaw. You have no one you can trust. Your monsters have no mind of their own and Jeremie and the others were but slaves to you."

"**Oh, now you're giving me one of those friendship speeches, perhaps in hope to activate the power of your crest and perform a Deus Ex Machina to save your necks.**" – XANA taunted in an aggravated tone.

"You force others to serve and help you without caring for what they want." – Aelita continued as if XANA hadn't interrupted. – "That's why you don't value friendship. But we have friends and they all are willing to help us without asking for anything in return. Show him what I mean, guys."

Kari, Ulrich and Yolei sent the all clear signal through their D-terminals.

"You see XANA. Our _decoy_ towers had another role in this."

_On the Server Continent…_

"Show time." – Tai said, having just received the message from her sister. – "You ready Agumon?"

"Always." – Agumon smiled.

"And are you ready, guys?" – Tai asked the shadowy figures that just showed up. They all answered affirmatively in their own way. The six activated control spires in the Server Continent glowed and formed vortexes which absorbed the crowds around them.

_Back on Lyaku…_

XANA could only watch in growing horror as six portals opened in the Dark Desert, Ice and Mountain sectors, two for each sector. He finally realized one unshackle truth:

He had lost.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

><p>Non-canon scene:<p>

Away from Lyaku, but still inside the heart of the Digital World, Davis watching XANA's base from afar. Unlike Earth, the core of the Digital World is completely hollow. Or rather, used to be completely hollow until XANA built Lyaku from scrap. The mantle was a bedrock with tunnels that snaking all the way for thousands of miles to the surface. Davis was now at the end of one of such tunnels watching the invasion.

"Nice plan." – the deserting XANA Warrior recognized a cunning strategy when he saw one. – "They might have a pretty good chance to beat XANA after all. Good for them, better for me."

Davis turned around and walked through the tunnel. His plan had gone perfectly and while this could have been a good chance to strike, he would rather wait until both sides exhausted each other.

His thoughts were interrupted when he came across a major chamber that appeared to have been dug artificially. The room was about 20 meters tall and over a kilometer wide.

"What's this?" – what called Davis attention the most were the missile-like objects. They were all lined up like soldiers waiting to march. – "XANA, what have you been playing at?"

**This was a bit rushed. I wanted to widen the drama like a moment for Tokomon, DemiVeemon and Minomon finally coming to their senses, the whole Gatomon vs Nat-chan, Kari trying to calm Nat-chan down, add a fight sequence of Jeremie vs Ulrich's team. But the most important was about setting free TK, which I wanted to be more dramatic but came out to plain. I'm sorry but this chapter was already large enough. If it were to become any bigger, I would have to split it in two. And the problem is the 'Break the Chains' saga is already planned to be a three-chapter thing. I just don't have enough time for that.**


	31. Ep 28 Break the Chains PART II

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 28: Break the chains PART II**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Zompires (Episode 26)**

**PS: TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED TO THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD APPRECIATE IF THEY REVIEWED AGAIN IN A GUEST ACCOUNT. JUST TO COMPARE THE TWO VERSIONS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.**

_Paris, Espérance Palace, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

"But didn't the Digimon cause the Great Burn?" – Antoine asked, pulling President Jeremie Belpois from his tale:

"Excuse me."

"Our daddy says the Digimon caused the Great Burn and that they're evil." – Isabelle said. Jeremie just sighed at that but didn't contradict them.

"_Some secrets are harder to keep them others."_ – the President thought bitterly.

"What happened next?" – Antoine questioned. – "Is that the end of the story?"

"The end? No, not a chance." – Jeremie chuckled with an emotion none could exactly place. – "But, it's past time you kids go. I have busy things to do."

He used the 'busy things to do' excuse like his father used to when Jeremie was little. Isabelle smile fell a little but recovered in a blink. Antoine pouted a little, protesting that the story didn't had a good ending.

"The story isn't over, yet. Stories never end." – he old man said enigmatically before the nanny Benardette took them out of the office and closed the door.

Later that night, the President was walking in a corridor and stopped by the balcony. In there was where an old woman was watching the city at night. Jeremie joined her and the two had a quiet embrace. Aelita Stones Belpois, First Lady of France, had been favored by the years. Though her hair had gone from pink to white, it was a nice shade and her face and green eyes still held the old beauty that Jeremie first saw.

"Still enjoying the view?" – he asked.

"I was just looking at the moon." – Aelita said, indicating the shinnying orb. – "Lunamon used to spend hours contemplating the full moon…before it happened. Sometimes, I wonder what she's doing." – she added with a sorrowful sigh.

Jeremie sighed inwardly, he knew she meant the day of the Great Burn. Paris hadn't been spared that horror. The hypocenter, which center was where Espérance now stood, still had signs of the great crater that formed that day. Many great historical buildings and architecture were now just a memory to be mourned.

Good news were the infrastructure necessary for the old Parisian life standard was rebuilt and the economy was once again growing. People didn't bask in prosperity, but it did reign on the city. But while the reconstructions had regenerated the physical, Paris would never heal the injuries of the soul, from 82 years ago.

But it wasn't the Great Burn that kept digimon and the digidestined apart. It was XANA's legacy. The anvil hanging over their heads should they cross the line XANA drew right before he died. It was this threat that Jeremie, Cody and Davis, men who now had power, kept trying to uncover through quiet means and moves.

"I'm sorry I haven't found anything, Aelita…" – Aelita silenced him with a finger in his lips.

"I've known you for more than eighty years and you still push yourself to the limit." – she smiled. – "If it weren't for me, you'd have had a nervous breakdown _decades_ ago."

"Then marrying you was the smartest thing I've done." – he smiled back.

"Yes it was. But don't forget, just because I might be on the other side of the country, encouraging people to preserve the environment or helping the poor, that doesn't mean I can't sense you're overworking." – she mock-threatened though she meant every word. Jeremie chuckled heartedly. Then she spoke on a more serious tone:

"Jeremie, no one blames you for not uncovering the last of XANA's evil works. Nor we blame you for not stopping XANA before he had caused the Great Burn. He was beaten; we had no idea he was capable of doing something like that."

"I know." – Jeremie took a deep breath and glanced at the full moon for a bit. He chose to change the subject. – "The way you just said you could sense when I'm working too much reminded me of when you set me free…from XANA."

"Yes, I still remember." – she grinned. – "I remember Gennai took that as proof no one should ever cross me…"

_Lyaku, Year 2002 AD_

XANA could only watch in growing horror as six portals opened in the Dark Desert, Ice and Mountain sectors, two for each sector. He finally realized one unshackle truth:

He had lost.

"Fist of the Beast King!" – a deep mighty voice roared and the attack obliterated a Megatank in the Mountain. The voice belonged to one of the digimon first arriving in that sector.

"Leomon!" – Kari waved at him.

"Long time no see!" – TK greeted.

"Hello, my friends." – the lion replied. It had been a long time since they've seen their friends after the battle with MaloMyotismon. He gave a quick glance to Nat-chan, Yumi, Aelita and their digimon.

"Guys, this is Leomon, one of the friends we met in our adventures." – Cody made the introductions. They had only heard of Leomon but never met him in person.

"Nice to meet you." – Renardmon made a Japanese fashion bow. Yumi however went for the western approach. She had long adopted the handshake from her time in France.

"Not wanting to be rude, but we're kinda in the middle of a battle." – Aelita warned, blasting a Tarantula.

Her statement proved true enough. The monsters still greatly outnumbered them, but fortunately Leomon wasn't the only reinforcement. Ones of such were Greymon and Garurumon with their humans.

"TK!" – Matt ran for his little brother and crushed the life out of him in a bear hug. The younger blond shocked and made signs begging for oxygen. Matt let him go when he realized Tai was smirking at the scene. The veteran gogglehead hadn't interrupted the brotherly reunion, but Matt knew Tai would later tease him mercilessly. So he did what any man wanting to preserve his manliness would do: punching his little brother in the head and scold him:

"TK, you dork! You really think the old 'knight in shinny armor that sacrifices himself for the damsel' move would help you score points with Kari?" – TK gave him a confused look, massaging his own head. – "Talk about outdated cliché! If you wanted to score some points, giving yourself to the jellyfish was dumb."

Matt continued to nag which made TK confused and embarrassed, Patamon worried and slightly upset, Tai smiley and everyone else just awkward. But the discussion was very brief with the battle still unfinished.

"Spiral Sword!" – a mechanical voice shouted and a Lobscion had its tail cut off.

"Yo, Andromon!" – Tai saluted. Lunamon digivolved and joined the fight. Nat-chan felt something poking her leg and looked down to see Gatomon, who had just de-digivolved back to Champion.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving Kari's tail from TK." – the feline locked her big sharp eyes into Nat-chan's face. She offers the girl a gloved paw which Nat-chan accepts and shakes.

Kari had watched the small exchange from the corner of her eye and smiled. The look they were giving each other told plainly Gatomon and Nat-chan were far from friends but now they respected each other:

"_At least, something good came out of it._" – Kari thought with a smile. She then looked at the on-going fight. When they came up with the plan, Kari was disappointed that their strength in numbers would barely be enough. But then Gennai showed them letters he had sent to all the Digimon friends they had met in their adventures. They all replied they wanted to help without hesitation, despite knowing how dangerous it was.

"Aelita, we learnt something important!" – Cody called out from the ground level.

"Gennai, how are our friends?" – she asked, out of ear-shot.

"Ken and Jeremie are alright, just a bit out cold. But Davis is nowhere to be seen."

"That's just the thing." – Yumi called out. – "We ran into Davis in the Dark Forest.

_Flashback:_

_"Moving on, I don't know why you came here, and I don't care. I came only to warn you: Project XDestined is much bigger than you think." – Davis said._

_"How big?" – Yumi questioned._

_"After you beat XANA's crime partner, the Davis clone, XANA has come to terms that you guys are too much to fight with the old guns. He realized the only way to wipe out is with an army of digidestined."_

_"And how is he gonna do that after he exterminated all the others?" – Digmon asked._

_"Yeah, he killed all the Digidestined in the world, save your team. But he didn't wipe out their remains. You never wondered what happened to Willis' body? Or why the bodies of the other digidestined were maimed?"_

_That caused a sting to pierce Yumi's mind. After the battle with Akuma, they searched for Willis but the body was nowhere to be found. Also, the bodies of the murdered digidestined were reported have parts missing._

_"And why would XANA take trophies?" – Cody was sicken and revolted by XANA's profanation._

_"At the time, he saw it as trophies. But he had the foresight of keeping those remains frozen in case they turned out to be needed; which they did. Project XDestined is meant to create clones of the dead digidestined. An army of super-soldiers who have no will of their own and don't need to be XANAfied." – Davis watched with glee as their expressions became shocked with every word he said. – "These super-soldiers are stronger, faster, smarter and more powerful than TK. XANA made them to be able to compete with Megas."_

_"So XANA has cloned our friends and turned them into weapons against us?" – Cody spoke in sadness and repugnance that Willis and the others to be used like that._

_"Yeah, but how many? That's for you guys to find out. I'll be around." – Davis grinned and disappeared before they could ask anything else._

_End of Flashback._

"Gennai and Hopper were right, then. XANA was cooking up a something to wipe us out." – Tai concluded.

"But to use Willis and the others like that is just…" – Matt shook his head, revolted.

"XANA has no sacredness." – Lunamon sighed and they all agreed. Apart from all of this stood TK earring the conversation confused.

"Guys…what's this about Willis being…" – he couldn't finish the sentence. The team looked at him with sad demeanors.

"You don't remember?" – Yumi asked.

"My memories are slowly coming back in pieces, but it's mostly still just a big blank."

"Listen, TK." – Matt said solemnly. – "A ton has happened since XANA got you. We'll tell you later, but now it's not the time, ok."

TK hesitated but eventually nodded. There would be an explanation later and TK had a dread feeling he wasn't going to like it.

_In the Desert Sector…_

"Running! Running! Running!" – the Gekomon with a lisp shouted continuously. He and his peers along with the Otamamon were fleeing from Tarantulas and Krabs. – "Why are we doing thish?"

"Because we promised Princess Mimi we would help." – and Otamamon answered. The Rookies were guiding their pursuers into a box canyon. At the end of the line were Yolei ridding on Halsemon and Odd, like they had planned. When the monsters were in the canyon, Odd and Halsemon grabbed the Gekomon and Otamamon and flew out of there.

"Good job, guys." – Odd thanked them.

"Now!" – Halsemon shouted the signal. Siesamon, Deputymon and Meramon, who had been hiding at the entrance of the canyon fired their attacks at the rocky ravine.

"Sun's Courage!"

"Justice Bullet!"

"Magma Bomb!"

The rockslide blocked the only way out, trapping the monsters in the box canyon. At the top of said canyon was the digimon to finish the trap.

"Hold on to yours hats, muchachos!" – Starmon crossed his arms, gathering all his energy for the final blow. – "Meteor Shower!"

The monsters fired at the falling flaming rocks but to no use. The deadly rain destroyed all of them, leaving that area clean of monsters.

"We're done here." – Siesamon barked.

"But the girls are not." – Odd pointed at the other end of the sector where Birdramon and Togemon were struggling. Monzaemon was also visible due to his size. The team went there to help in the fight.

_In the Dark Ice Sector…_

"Solar Ray!" – Centarumon fired at a Block. He, Ogremon, Ulrich and Gaogamon were fencing off against their enemies. Ikkakumon, Kabuterimon, William and Dorugamon were a few thousand feet away fighting their own fair share.

"So you're the samurai twerp everyone's been talking about. The one who fought those scorpions on Dam City." – Ogremon muttered. He meant the time when XANA attacked a digimon city as a decoy to have Jeremie destroy the Skidbladnir. That was just one of the feats that had Ulrich and his team become fairly known in the Digital World.

"And you're the handsome face Mimi and Joe told me about." – Ulrich retorted in the same tone.

"Yeah, I've been called that." – Ogremon replied, using a Bone Cudgel on a Block. If Ulrich's words had offended him, he paid it no heed. Ulrich ran around a Krab before leaping on top of it and stabbing the symbol:

"Impact!"

Centarumon observed the scene through the corner of his eye without taking his vision from his opponents. He had never a chance to meet the new Digidestined and recently came a newer group with these powers. XANA's arrival to the Digital World had brought these new humans, for what Centarumon knew. He was looking forward to learn more about them.

_In the Supercomputer laboratory…_

"Ok, let me get this straight." – Jeremie sighed, after Gennai's resume. – "You're saying after I was XANAfied, XANA took residence on some digital plane where sentient life evolved on its own and called itself 'digimon'. These digimon need human interaction to be able to evolve and there's a specific group of boys and girls called 'digidestined' whose supposed to keep balance between our two worlds. And to top it off, my friends have recently become part of this group and are fighting XANA alongside their own digimon."

"That's pretty much a good summary." – Gennai nodded. Jeremie had a dubious look; he clearly didn't believe it.

"Riiiight." - he said slowly. – "And what about you?"

"I am a virtual human, born in the digital world."

"Sure you are." – he then looked at Ken. – "And who's the girl with the incredibly flat chest?"

**(A.N.: Couldn't resist bringing that old joke back.)**

Ken just groaned at that; he was having a mild headache. Gennai quickly instructed Jeremie to handle the Supercomputer. When he said Aelita and the other needed help, Jeremie left his suspicions and went to work. Ken was taken to the scanners.

"Virtualize him in these coordinates." – Gennai instructed and Jeremie analyzed them thoroughly before complying.

"Transfer Ken. Scanner Ken. Virtualization!" – Jeremie was done and Ken re-appeared in the Dark Desert Sector, this time free from XANA.

"Good, now I'll bring Minomon in." – Hopper relayed.

"Got it." – Jeremie didn't know who Minomon is, but Hopper was one of the few people he could still trust to make sense.

Back at Gennai's castle, Minomon was hopping with joy within the scanner before virtualization. DemiVeemon remained crestfallen. He had experience a slimmer of hope, but now it was gone.

_With the girls in the desert…_

"Ken!" – Yolei glomped him and began smothering him with kisses. Mimi went 'awww' while Sora looked away uncomfortable. Odd and his troops finally arrived.

"Wow, man. Yolei, I don't think Ken needs CPR." – Odd leered at the two but slowly became awkward as the girl seemed focused only on suffocating her returned boyfriend.

"Ken!" – a voice cried out and a dark-green blur pushed Yolei away and hugged Ken with its pincers. It was Minomon who had just digivolved into Wormmon.

"Wormmon!" – Ken hugged him back and got up. – "Guys! I'm sorr…"

"Save it. Wasn't your fault, Mr. Chantilly." – Odd smirked. Ken gave him an annoyed glance before letting it go. Ken's feline experience was what led him to XANA's clutches. Sora had to held Yolei back, for the lavender-haired girl was fuming in anger for having her man taken away by his digimon.

"Yolei, I know you're happy to have Ken back." – Sora whispered in her ear. – "But we're not done here. When we find Davis and get out of here, you can have as much time with Ken as you want."

"Fine." – the girl muttered.

"You ready, Wormmon?" – Ken held up his long non-used D3.

_Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon!_

_In Gisaku…_

XANA had believed this day to be his momentous climax, the final victory against his enemies. But it turned into his worst nightmare. His monster army was been slaughtered by the dozens, his energy was nearly at the bottom and his warriors were gone.

"**This isn't how it was supposed to end.**"

Debilitated as he was, using his little remaining energy to create more monsters would only stall his doom. His forces were practically gutted and soon would be decimated. And when that happened, the Digidestined and their allies would certainly march until Gisaku. Where they would obliterate him… XANA felt a chill up his figurative spine.

"**I didn't want to do this, but I have no choice. I have to unleash Willis-16.**"

Distractedly, he turned his attention to Kari and he felt hatred. It was because of her this was happening! Had she died when she was stranded in Gisaku, he would have own months ago. If it weren't for her daring idea and cursed crest, TK wouldn't have never been set free.

Then XANA had a daring idea himself. The effort would leave him barely alive, but if it wiped out his enemies once and for all, it would be worth it. It had been a long time since XANA had thought about _it_. He had only used _it_ once when the Digidestined celebrated the return of Hopper, after all. He hadn't used _it_ ever since, due to the lengthy repairs. Perhaps it was time to let the heroes face an old friend.

"**I still have two weapons…hum, make that three.**"

_In the Dark Desert Sector…_

"Earthquake!" – Siesamon shouted. The group felt the land shake and stop. Then another shake. And another. And another.

"_Guys, I'm getting massive energy readings from XANA. He's pushing himself to near exhaustion to bring out something big._" – Jeremie informed.

"This isn't a regular earthquake." – Ken noted. – "It's like a giant walking."

"Maybe XANA invited Godzilla to play." – Odd joked.

"Princess Mimi!" – the Otamamon and Gekomon surrounded Mimi frightened. They still called her princess even though she had asked not to, four years ago. – "Do you think it's our boss, ShogunGekomon?"

"Uh, guys! I think I know _that_ ugly face." – Yolei pointed up. Coming from behind a field of stone towers, a white featureless face with dark spikes imitating hair. The rest of the body was rocky with strings of lava running like shallow veins. The left arm was shaped like a massive blade. Even the digimon, allies and partnered, were awed by the size of the new monsters.

"Houston, we got a problem. The Kolossus is back."

_In the iceberg land…_

"I don't like this." – Ogremon muttered, looking at the dark lighting in the sky.

"Yeah, dark lightning kinda has that effect on people." – Dorugamon retorted. The lightning concentrated in one spot and struck the ground beneath it. The ground wasn't scorched but a figure stood kneeling in the spot. It was wearing a black jump-suit with orange glowing lines. Each wrist had a disk attached which served like a buzzsaw weapon.

"Willis!" – William gasped.

"Not Willis. This must be one of those clones Yumi found out." – Izzy opined. Willis-16's eyes were focused but neutral. XANA's voice sounded through all of Lyaku.

"**Say hello to my super-soldier: Willis-16**." – XANA sounded different. It was a whisper and slightly trembling, like someone on a bad cold.

"XANA, you've had better days." – Ulrich couldn't avoid a smile creeping to his lips.

"**Those better days will be back once my new pet finishes you.**" – all the invaders could now see a cloud of smoke rising from the red pyramid and hear it's voice from their sectors. – "**My super-soldier isn't ready yet, but you forced me to take extreme measures.**"

"We've beaten your puppet monkeys; we can beat the giant rock a second time and a rookie." – Yolei growled.

"**But Willis-16 isn't a regular warrior. He's the first of my digidestined army which I'll use to conquer the world.**" – XANA's dark cloud goshted to the Dark Ice Sector where his super-soldier was standing but hadn't moved yet. – "**Alone he can't beat you, but I can tip the scales in his favor.**"

With a sudden movement, the cloud that was XANA dove towards the super-soldier and entered his body. The heroes watched shocked as Willis-16's body twisted in impossible angles.

"_Guys, we got a major situation!"_

"You're telling us, Einstein! We're having front seats to a scene out of 'The Exorcist'!" – William shook up. When it was over, Willis-16 opened his eyes. Now completely black with two red XANA insignias serving as pupils. Willis-16 unleashed a shockwave and the heroes were knocked away.

"Jeremie, I think XANA just jacked up Willis!" – Joe relayed.

"_It's more than that. I think XANA has actually merged with him!"_

"**You bet I have, Binky-boy!**" – Willis-16 gave a smirk, the first time he showed emotion. – "**You thought just because I was weakened you could defeat me? Guess again!**"

Stingmon, Kabuterimon and Dorugamon, supported by Pixiemon, tried an aerial strike. Willis-16, or rather XANA, unleashed another shockwave against them.

_In the desert…_

"This guy is tougher than before!" – Sora said. When the Kolossus made its entrance, the digimon quickly went Ultimate. But last time it took more than two Ultimates and a bunch of Champions.

"Flower Cannon!"

"Winged Blade!"

The two Ultimates fired up at the tow distinguished symbols. But something unexpected happen. Instead of sloppy and slow movements, the Kolossus shielded his face with his hand in a quick and fluid move. Its reflexes were disproportional to its titanic size.

"How can he be so big and plump and yet so fast?" – Mimi asked.

"XANA must have upgraded him somehow." – Ken shared his thoughts. The first time, the Kolossus had relied on Jeremie to block the attacks at both targets.

"Double Nightmare Syndrome!" – Digitamamon and Tapirmon fired at the monster's face, but with no effect.

"Maybe we can beat him the old fashioned way." – Yolei looked at the digimon allies. – "Can you guys make him lose his balance?"

"I sure can do my lady." – Starmon tipped his hat. – "Meteor Shower!"

The Kolossus wasn't even fazed by the rain of firing rocks. Even though some were almost the size of his head. To make it worst, he actually swung one of the meteor against the ground heroes with his fist.

"Watch out!" – the burning rock almost hit the digidestined and the allied digimon. Nobody got too hurt, but they would be out of the fight temporarily.

"Nice going, you first-time shooter!" – Deputymon growled at his old rival, all bruised. The Kolossus tried to swing at Halsemon but the he escaped by an inch, literally. Stingmon was still good but Siesamon de-digivovled and Odd lost many life points. The heroes were getting tired and the Kolossus had barely begun.

"We really could use a miracle now." – Yolei pleaded.

"Anyone asked for a miracle?" – a new voice announced. A voice they recognized but hadn't heard on that tone for some time. Ken was the first to turn around and see who it was.

"Davis!"

There he was in his blue, flamed jacket and goggles. Davis Motomyia ran for his friends and Mimi shouted:

"Davis is back!" – this gave away to cheers but none could be compared to DemiVeemon back at the castle. Hopper said he would virtualize DemiVeemon right away.

"Davis, where have you been?" – Yolei growled, getting over the joy of having her friend back.

"Kinda lost. But I'm good now and ready to kick some butt." – he gave his trademark grin and DemiVeemon was virtualized right on his arms, digivolving immediately into Rookie.

"Davis!" – he cried with his traditional lisp.

"You guys go help the guys in the Ice Sector. Yumi said only Megas can give the Willis knock off a beating, so they need all the help they can get. Ken and I will take care of rock-head over here." – Davis order gained a few strange looks from the others. – "What?"

"That's… a very good plan." – Ken said thoughtfully. The others wnet on their way, leaving only Stingmon, Davis, Ken and Veemon.

"_Dorks!"_ – Davis thought with glee watching the others go. – "You ready pall?"

"Ready when you are!" – Veemon grinned. Now that his partner was back, everything would be alright.

After three digivolution and a mode change, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode was back and ready to dish out a lot of pain to XANA.

"Positron Laser!" – the powerful attack knocked the rock giant away but didn't destroy him just yet.

_With Kari…_

In the Dark Mountain Sector, the battle was going easier. Their only opponents were regular monsters and their troops were in good numbers. However easier wasn't faster. After XANA sent Willis-16 and the Kolossus, he also transported the monsters in the other two sectors to this one.

"Absolute Zero Punch!" – Frigimon froze two Tarantulas and then Mojyamon used his bone boomerang to destroy them. The Vegiemon and RedVegiemon clubbed the Kankrelats and Blocks. Ankylomon, Garurumon, Greymon and Yokomon took care of the larger enemies, with Leomon, Gatomon and Andromon supporting. Lekismon, Aelita and MagnaAngemon fought off the airborne monsters.

"_This is going good,_" – Kari thought. – "_but XANA wouldn't just leave us nothing big to fight. He knows when we're done here we'll help the others. So what's his game?_"

Kari would soon have the answers for that question soon enough. Beneath the level they were fighting, a Megatank sneaked up and fired up his laser, cutting the edge of the upper-layer where Kari was standing.

"Hey, what…" – Kari shouted as the ground beneath her feet began to crackle and collapse. Tai turned around just in time to see Kari falling.

"Kari!"

"Tai!" – he tried to grab her hand but too late. A sudden flashback played in his mind when they were separated several years ago, fighting Machinedramon. – "No!"

"Kari!" – Gatomon half-hissed, half-cried, looking at the edge of the layer. She had been fighting a Krab and hadn't seen her best friend falling down.

In the lower layers of the Dark Mountain Sector, Kari stirred and woke up. She had bruisers all over and a minor headache but nothing broken. She stood up and froze when heard a sound that had become a bad omen to the digidestined. The sound that announced the presence of the Scyphozoa. Kari had the courage to turn around, but that was all before the jellyfish wrapped its tentacles around her.

"**You are the source of my ruin, Kari Yagami. I lost my warriors because of you, so to compensate me, you shall be the first of my new followers.**" – XANA whispered in delight.

The Scyphozoa proceeded in infusing Kari with XANA's possession codes. Jeremie got the red alert beeping:

"_Guys, we got a problem. The Scyphozoa got your friend Kari."_

"I'll…" – whatever Gatomon was about to say or do was cut short by a flying pink blur.

In the lower level, the Skyphozoa was still infusing Kari with XANA's essence. Kari could only watch in terror as her mind felt dozing off more and more... as if falling asleep after a tiring day. She was gonna turn into XANA's slave and she could do nothing against it.

"**When you're mine, I'll force you to kill your friends one by one. I'll save your brother, boyfriend and partner for last. And I'll make sure you'll be aware when accomplishing my orders. The screams you'll cry in your brain as your hands take their lives will be music for my ears!**" – XANA whispered sadistically. – "**You belong to me, now and forever!**"

"XANA!" – a voice cried out and Kari woke up to see the glass head and brain of the Scyphozoa shattered by a yellow shield with the Crest of Kindness. Aelita had punched the Scyphozoa right in the insignia and the force of her blow burst the head of the monster.

"You took Jeremie and our friends from us." – Aelita spoke in a monotonous voice, but her eyes had steel in them. – "You forced Sora, Tai and the others to hurt their friends. You took Willis and all the other digidestined away from their partners and doomed them to eternal misery. You'll never separate anyone from anyone. Ever. Again."

===scene break===

Meanwhile, in Paris:

"Ouch!" – Jeremie winced at Aelita's tone and strength. He had never seen her delivering a punch like that especially with that voice.

"Make sure you never stand in her way when she's upset." – Gennai wisely advised him.

===scene break===

The Scyphozoa exploded and Kari fell on the ground, sore but relieved. Aelita attended to her and gave her a lift back up.

"Thanks for the rescue, Aelita."

She left Kari with Tai and Gatomon who hugged her. TK also checked on her.

"_Great job, Aelita. After that, I doubt the Scyphozoa will be up and about soon. If ever."_ - Hopper complimented. The battle in the Dark Mountain Sector was over. Kari was safe and all monsters had been destroyed.

"Look!" – Leomon growled, pointing to a giant figure in the sky of the Dark Desert Sector. It was Imperialdramon flying up and carrying the Kolossus. The Mega took the monster high up and sent it plummeting into the ground. The shockwave that followed made the whole barren landscape tremble.

"Giga Crusher!" – Imperialdramon fired his ultimate attack and annihilated the Kolossus for good in a fireball.

The heroes, digimon and human alike, cheered in victory. Now only one target remained: Willis/XANA, in the Dark Ice Sector.

"Come on! Let's move!" – Tai called out. – "Izzy, Ulrich and the others need help against Willis clone."

"_Children, to reach that sector you'll have a long way to go. The only path for terrestrials is to go to Gisaku. I can see pathways that travel between sectors but none of them is opened. Gisaku is where all the sectors intertwine._" – Hopped announced. The red pyramid was a long way, still.

"Maybe I can change that." – Aelita said. – "Ultreactivity!"

Aelita's song forged a wide bridge of land between the mountains and the frozen land. Now non-flying digimon could cross.

"Time to go, Gatomon!"

_Gatomon armor-digivolve to…Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!_

"You can ride with us, Nat-chan." – Kari gave her a hand to climb onto Nefertimon. Kari's partner was a bit tense at that, but said nothing and flew away.

"Ready, Patamon?" – TK held his D-3.

_Patamon armor-digivolve to…Patamon?_

It took them just a second to realize the truth. Patamon couldn't armor-digivolve.

"What's wrong? You digivolved to Ultimate just fine."

"TK, I can't turn into Pegasusmon."

TK frown until realization dawned. He had Patamon digivolve into Champion.

_Patamon digivolve to…Angemon!_

"Guess the Digi-egg of Hope now is with William." – TK just shrugged as Angemon gave him a ride.

_In the Dark Desert Sector…_

"We did it!" – Ken smiled. Imperialdramon de-digivolved into DemiVeemon and Minomon. The Kolossus may have had improved agility but Imperialdramon still had better reflexes, firepower and could fly.

"Where's Davis?" – DemiVeemon asked.

"Davis? He's right…" – Ken looked around him and saw no one. Davis had been at his right during the whole fight! – "We have to find him."

_In the Dark Ice Sector…_

"There they are!" – Cody said.

XANA appeared to be holding his own. Gaomon, Labramon, Palmon and Tsukaimon were out of the fight. William and Ulrich were exhausted like their digimon. Only Odd and the Ultimates like Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon and Zudomon were still in the fight. Halsemon had changed into Aquilamon to provide better support.

"About time you got here." – Mimi said. – "This creep doesn't give up."

"_Guys, we have another problem_." – Jeremie said. – "_Ken just e-mailed me that Davis disappeared in the desert._"

"Arrrgh! Why is he always getting himself in trouble?!" – Yolei growled.

"We take care of XANA. You guys go help Ken finding him." – Tai instructed and so the teams switched places. The few digimon allies that were still up for a fight were Ogremon, Andromon, Leomon and Pixiemon.

"**Typical pathetic human strategy.**" – XANA scoffed. – "**You think your worthless friends managed to make me break a sweat? Guess again!**"

"You keep thinking too little of us, XANA." – Yumi scoffed back. – "That's what has gotten you this far."

_Agumon warp-digivolve to…WarGreymon_

_ Gabumon warp-digivolve to…MetalGarurumon_

"Cody, let's go!" – TK called.

_Aquilamon…Gatomon…DNA Digivolve to…Silphymon_

_Angemon…Ankilomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon_

"Grace Cross Freezer!" – MetalGarurumon fired every missiles he had. XANA held up his hands and the missiles stopped. He used his telekinetic powers to send the missiles right back at him.

"Kachina Bombs!"

"Pixi Bomb!"

"Tear Arrow!"

"Evil Flame Dragon!" – Shakkoumon, Pixiemon, Lekismon and Yokomon protected their comrade by destroying all the missiles.

"Static Force!"

"Spiral Sword!" – Silphymon and Andromon counter-attacked at the same time. XANA avoided the combined blow by leaping high in the air. He dove with his buzzsaws grinding to the two Ultimates.

"Brave Shield!" – this time, WarGreymon stepped in to defend. The two stood pressing against the other, the buzzsaws grinding against the metal of the shield.

"Justice Beams!"

"Fist of the Beast King!"

"Pummel Whack!" – Shakkoumon's, Leomon's and Ogremon's energy attacks stroke the distracted XANA. He was tossed away but landed on his feet. That combo seemed to have only stung him a little.

"Golden Feat!" – XANA was surprisingly attacked by a swarm of golden fans. He tried to shield himself with his buzzsaws.

"Hard to watch your own back, when you're alone, uh?" – Yumi recovered her fans.

"**I don't need anyone to watch my back!**" – XANA growled. – "**Thanks to the stamina of my super-soldier, I can keep up fighting for days. You, on the other hand…**"

XANA leaped high into the air, about a hundred feet. He dove towards the ground like a comet and the shockwave tossed dust, dirt and rock in tons against them.

"Ultreactivity!" – Aelita created a barrier of rock between them and the in-coming. In the ground zero, XANA growled to see his enemies had survived. The two Megas stroke first.

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!" – XANA grabbed WarGreymon's fireball and used it as a shield against the freezing breath. Next he hurled the Terra Force at the other MetalGarurumon. But Shakkoumon absorbed it just in time.

"Thanks for that!" – MetalGarurumon appreciated.

"Dramon Killer!" – Wargreymon engaged in another duel with XANA. But this time was claws versus buzzsaws.

"**I'm getting sick of these little games! Why won't you just DIE?!**" – in his anger, XANA unleashed a blast wave of energy even more powerful than the last one. Even the two Megas were pushed away and weakened.

XANA stood there, panting, showing the first signs of exhaustion, but satisfied. He looked around to see everyone beaten, but saw Yumi still standing.

"**Only one more left. You wanna give up now?**" – he smirked.

"No, XANA. You're the one who should consider surrender." – she retorted.

"**Really? Because from where I'm standing, I just proved to be stronger than all of you combined.**"

"You still don't get it, XANA." – Matt entered the argument. – "Did you notice what our friends did whenever you attacked one of them."

"**Yes, as a matter of fact. They stepped in to protect each other instead of using the moment to attack me.**" – XANA countered nonchalantly.

"They look after each other." – Tai supported. – "They trust each other. Something you don't understand. You only see pawns to be controlled or enemies to be destroyed."

"You don't see there is more to life than power and using others to achieve it." – Aelita continued. – "You may be more powerful than us, but you're all alone. That was always your mistake."

"Regeneration!" – Yumi glowed a golden radiance and their allies regained their strength. Wargreymon, Pixiemon and Silphymon were up in the air again.

"Now that is some power-up!" – Ogremon growled with a grin. Hard to tell if he was indeed grinning since he keeps his mouth open all the time. He, Leomon and Andromon were also back in action.

"**You think I can't take you down a second time?! Watch!**"

"Justice Beam!"

"Astral Laser!"

Irritated, XANA didn't block the attacks. He came to and halt and the digimon took the chance.

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

The cold and heat attacks combined caused a thermal shock that XANA couldn't avoid this time. He was hurled away and came to fall on the ground making a small crater upon impact.

"You're washed up, XANA!" – Wargreymon had his Dramon Killers in pose.

"**I don't…think so!**" – XANA roared, getting up with difficulty. The red pupils of his super-soldier he was using as a vessel burned with hate. – "**I won't…concede to…you. I'll…**"

XANA couldn't finish the sentence, for he felt a stinging increasing pain in his chest. He looked down to see a blade coming out of it. The digimon and humans were as astonished as he was. XANA turned his head around and come to look into Davis Motomiya's eyes.

"You're right, XANA. You won't concede to them. You'll concede to _me_." – he whispered so that only XANA could ear.

"Davis!" – Kari cried in joy. She, Cody, TK and Yolei ran to meet up their returned friend. Nat-chan however, stood where she was looking at him with growing suspicion.

"Where have you been? You moron!" – Yolei growled. – "You disappeared like that, making us think …"

"Stop!" – Tai ordered. He and Matt blocked their path. – "Something doesn't add up. He's still wearing that outfit."

It was true; Davis had previously appeared in his regular clothes when he joined Ken to stop the Kolossus. But now his XANA avatar was back.

"Sorry about this, but everything will be explained later. First I'll deal with my former employer. Then I'll kill you guys." – Davis replied nonchalantly. He grabbed Willis-16 by his neck and sent a red energy through him. The super-soldier began to shake and looked up, opening his mouth fully.

XANA, a black smoky cloud, now much smaller than before, came out. Expelled from his vessel and much weakened, he was no menace to anyone now. The black smoke was surrounded by a web of red energy. Davis pulled it in and slowly, he ingested the smoke.

"Gross!" – Yolei shrieked.

"Another scene out of 'The Exorcist'." – TK uttered.

Davis finished swallowing XANA and fell on his knees. Willis-16's body was evaporated. Lyaku began trembling; a new force had awaken.

"Davis?" – Kari took a step towards him. – "XANA?"

"Wrong." – _Davis_ said. His voice wasn't Davis, but wasn't XANA's either. It sounded like a whisper. – "I am neither. I am the best of both."

The trembling increased. Kari watched in horror as Davis, still kneeling, started to glow red and exploded. A cloud of black smoke rose up, standing taller than Gisaku. The ground began to crack and the sky darkened.

"_Children, you must get out now. Davis is going to destroy Lyaku with you in it!"_

_Paris, Espérance Palace, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

"You know, Jeremie," – Aelita said, her voice felt like weighting a ton. – "that day I told XANA he would never separate friends and loved ones again. I was wrong."

Jeremie hugged her trying to console her and contain her sadness.

"Even in death, he managed to spread grief. More than when he was alive." – she cried.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

><p><strong>This time, I'll put no Non-canon scene. This chapter also had a few parts a bit rushed, especially about the whole part about the teams switching to fight XANAWillis-16 and the tired ones go finding Davis. It just didn't sound right to have such a large crowd fighting XANA and the Skyphozoa and Kolossus were already dead. **

**You may have noticed I didn't give the Kolossus vs Imperialdramon fight. But it was kinda obvious. They were both giant and the Kolossus may have learnt new moves but Imperialdramon was still more agile, powerful and could fly. So you can all guess how it would have gone. Easy peasy. **

**I wanted to show every digimon who hadn't digivolve do to their partners been gone. First Patamon went all the way to MagnaAngemon and then joined to be Shakkoumon. But his angel Ultimate form was necessary to trigger the program. And I kinda missed Shakkoumon, even though MagnaAngemon is more powerful. Veemon, however, went virtually straight to Imperialdramon. Too bad the poor little guy is gonna have a new disappointment.**

**And Gatomon may appear to have been OOC when she thanked Nat-chan, but she wasn't. Had Nat-chan saved Gatomon, Gatomon would have just proudly said she could handle herself. But when Kari's life was on the line, that was too important to let pride stay in charge.**

**On a last note, I wanted to bring Whamon and MegaSeadramon, but XANA never created any ocean sector.**


	32. Ep 29 Break the Chains PART III

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 29: Break the chains PART III**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Zompires (Episode 26)**

**PS: TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED TO THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD APPRECIATE IF THEY REVIEWED AGAIN IN A GUEST ACCOUNT. JUST TO COMPARE THE TWO VERSIONS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.**

**The council of the Sovereigns was kinda like the council of the gods in the '**_**Clash of the Titans**_**', 2010. Azulongmon may seem a bit OOC but that's because he was in an all-business mood. Sometimes things are too grim for jokes. I'm sorry this was a little rushed, but I couldn't add a fourth part. Hope you understand. Last note: if you scramble the name DAVIS and add an ****X****, you have VAXDIS.**

_Digital World, Unknown location, Year 2084 AD/ 82 PC_

Gennai looked grimly at the four titanic digimon gathered in the high sky of the mountain's, Azulongmon's domain. The four Sovereigns were now looking at the digital man, expecting his report confirming the dreadful feel they had been having for the last few months.

"The barrier is breaking up from the outside. It is as you had feared." – he said the last part with a lowered head in dread. – "The barrier between our world and the human world is breaking up from the outside in."

"It is the humans who are causing this." – Zhuqiaomon said dryly. It wasn't a question.

"Unconsciously, yes." – Gennai replied. The phoenix Sovereign was known as anti-human popular figure. Gennai wasn't very fond of him but he couldn't deny he was right on this one; the humans were causing the barrier between the two worlds to collapse, even though they didn't know what they were causing.

"This is what I have always warned you about, my brothers. We must act, right now." – Zhuqiaomon extended his wings for emphasis.

"And what would you suggest?" – Ebowumon, the two-serpent-headed turtle with a massive tree on his back, questioned. - "Send a massive pre-emptive assault to their world?"

"Of course! Wipe out the most warmongers of their kind before they discover they can soon access our world."

"That will only fed them hatred and ravage the barrier even more." – Azulongmon argued.

Gennai listened to the giants deliberating with mild attention. His mind drifted to how things had gone so grim. 82 human years before, the Great Burn happened. And in its aftermath, the whole of Humanity rose against the digimon, believing them to be the source of such pain and death.

Azulongmon, who had been in charge of the digidestined at the time, was forced to close all the portals. All this to prevent human military forces to find ways to penetrate the Digital World and exact the revenge Humanity so hungrily seeks.

During the first years, that had worked to keep the humans away. But apparently, not the darkness that sprouted from their hearts.

"Their light is what gave us strength, once." – Ebowumon spoke with a note of nostalgia.

"And now their hate is threatening to kill us." – Baihumon, the feral, armored, white wolf, spoke for the first time.

During the years after the Great Burn, the Digital World had gone through some gradual changes. Forests and jungles were slowly regressing. River and lakes drying. Less and less digimon were reborn. And worst of all, digivolution to Ultimate and Mega levels were becoming rarer. Noticing this, Gennai and his order researched and investigate the matter. The conclusion was what was been debated: the hatred of the humans not only was weakening the barrier, but it was infiltrating the Digital World and slowly poisoning it.

"_It is the Light that gives life to this world._" – that was what Azulongmon said to the Digidestined so long ago.

In ancient days, when the darkness of Apocalymon was growing on the Digital World for this first time, it was deemed necessary to fight it. But for that, digivolution was necessary and it wasn't at all very common.

It had been Azulongmon who had the idea of establishing the Digidestined. He had observed the humans for a long time and figured they were very adept to Light. And Light was always the key ingredient for digivolution. However, Zhuqiaomon had argued; he had seen the humans were also very adept to darkness, making them an unstable cocktail.

Later, Azulongmon figured that children were mostly adept to Light than the adults. And so, he decided to pull strings and joined the fates of five digimon with the fates of five human children whose Light was the brightest. Hence came the first five digidestined who stopped Apocalymon the first time. But those were now just memories of a brighter age.

"We could reach out to them." – Ebowumon suggested. – "We could try to explain them we're not responsible."

"They won't believe us. And even if they did that would only cause more death. If we try to communicate with them, XANA's legacy would do its part. The humans would suffer even more and their hate would grow stronger." – Azulongmon sighed sadly.

XANA's legacy, as it was called, was the invisible knife at Humanity's throat, which only the Digidestined and a very few digimon knew of. If they told it to nay human government, it would be the Great Burn all over again…

Gennai had to admit, even in death, XANA's evil works lived one. He could still remember the day that had sealed this future.

_Lyaku, Year 2002 AD_

The trembling increased. Kari watched in horror as Davis, still kneeling, started to glow red and exploded. A cloud of black smoke rose up, standing taller than Gisaku. The ground began to crack and the sky darkened.

"_Children, you must get out now. Davis is going to destroy Lyaku with you in it!"_

Hopper opened vortexes on the Dark Desert and Ice Sectors so that they could get out.

"Let's get out of here!" – Tai shouted, flying with WarGreymon.

"What about Davis?" – DemiVeemon and Nat-chan asked from different locations.

"_If you don't save yourselves there'll be no way to save him._" – Jeremie ordered. – "_Now get out of there!_"

The scenario kept getting more and more chaotic. Red lighting struck and pieces of the sectors were actually breaking apart and dissolving into data. The spot where Davis had been was now an ever rising column of black smoke and red sparks.

Tai and Matt were at the portals waiting for their younger siblings. Kari, Gatomon, TK, Patamon and Nat-chan were the last ones to be evacuated.

"Come on, guys. Hurry up!" – Tai held his hand to Kari. They were but a few meters away. They were going to escape that nightmare!

"Not so fast!" – deep, echoing voice thundered. A flash of red light and Tai and Matt were shoved through the portals which closed. Kari and her teams were now stranded in Lyaku, which was falling apart.

Two massive fists grabbed them. TK, Patamon and Nat-chan in one hand, Kari and Gatomon in other. A giant face stared them down. It was Davis, now bigger than the Kolossus. His Avatar was releasing smoke and energy, the red lines glowing with power.

"Look who was trying to escape. Not on my watch!" – Davis voice sounded like a thunder throughout the apocalyptic scenario.

"Davis!" – Kari called out. – "We though…you had broken free from XANA?"

"Yes and no. I'm not the Davis you knew, and I mean that literally."

"Davis…" – TK spoke up, hardly. – "If you're not loyal to XANA and you're not our friend, then who are you?"

"I am what was once called Daisuke Motomiya. I have his memories, his voice and his DNA, but I have my own personality. This is what the Scyphozoa implants in its victims: an artificial personality loyal to XANA which overwrites the victim's one." – Davis smirked.

"But if you're a new personality created by XANA, why the rebellion? And how could you do it in the first place." – Nat-chan asked.

"Because XANA, as usual, ignored an important detail. Even though I am an artificial personality, I was created based on a human one. While XANA created us to be loyal to him and it worked, what he forgot to take into account was that loyalties can change."

"XANA created us, the artificial personalities of the XANA Warriors, with one special power. The more the host mind fought back, the stronger we grew. And Davis…he had a lot of fight to give, but he's been much quieter nowadays." – he added with a sneer. He then carried on after a short pause. - "I have been fed up with XANA's attitude for a long time. When he allowed me a little vacation, I went to China and, in a crazy twist of fate, met a Shaolin monk who taught me to use my head before using my anger. It was then I realized I didn't need to be bound to anyone."

"Davis using his head? You're definitely not him." – Gatomon sighed awkwardly.

"Got that right." – Davis rolled his eyes. – "You never wondered why my outfit and powers changed? Take a look at this."

The strands of hair covering his forehead withdrawn. Kari was the first to understand what he meant.

"Your symbol."

"That's right; the Eye of XANA on my forehead is gone since I changed. I come to realize why should I serve some bunch of 0s and 1s that can't even deal with a some kids and their digimon by himself?"

"That's why you helped Yumi!" – TK put two and two together. – "You wanted us to weaken XANA…so you could take over!"

"Seems fair enough that you hurt XANA for me." – Davis shrugged. – "After all I did the same for you. I pulled strings so that you would take the chance to strike. In doing so, you helped me by destroying Project XDestined and taking the other Warriors out of my way. Now I have absorbed XANA and acquired all of his powers. Perfect win-win scenario!"

"What do you want?" – Gatomon hissed.

"I want what that poor excuse for an evil mastermind was too frightened to get: everything. Including this world." – Davis chuckled emitted thunders on the sky.

"Try all you want. The Sovereigns won't let you." – Patamon dared him.

"Yeah, those four." – Davis mused. – "They were the ones who always kept XANA at bay from draining this world dry of its energy or even try to conquer it. But they won't be a problem for me. Not now that I have XANA's abilities."

"XANA was falling apart when he combined with Willis-16." – Kari countered. – "What difference does it make?"

"A lot. You see, XANA was weak on energy but his powers were still intact. And I have all the energy I need building up inside me. Look around." – Davis turned them to see Lyaku falling apart. But now they noticed something they hadn't before in the heat of escape. While the plane was been dismantled into data, the bits were been sucked into Davis. Kari gasped at the meaning of this.

"That's right, sweetcheeks. I'm not just destroying Lyaku, I'm devouring it. It will give me all the energy than I ever needed and more!"

To make his point, Davis grew bigger, his body glowed even more.

"Davis, you can't…"

"Haven't I told you, I'm not Davis." – Davis unfocused his glare and looked up, partially lost in his thoughts. – "After I decided to forge my own path, I came to realized I needed a name for myself. XANA created me, but it was Davis who mostly made me who I am. I am him, only better and newer."

"My name" – he said after a pause. – "is Vaxdis."

"You can't destroy the Digital World. Even with all the power you have, the Sovereigns will kick your rat tail." – Gatomon hissed. Vaxdis turned his attention back to his captives.

"True, the Sovereigns could still give me a good run for my money." – Vaxdis shrugged. – "But they won't fight me. I have thought of a way to keep then distracted as I conquer this world."

"Even now I'm growing and soon I'll have become the core of this world. Once Lyaku is gone, I'll expand and infect the Digital World from the inside out, devouring every byte, every 0 and 1. Until the Digital World becomes Planet Vaxdis."

"You're insane!" – TK shouted.

"Insane, no. Visionaire, yeah. Even if all Digimon joined forces with the Sovereigns, they wouldn't be able to beat me. Not when every mountain, every river, every ocean, every island, every volcano, every tree, every cloud turns against them!"

"We won't let you, you freak!" – Kari said, fiercely.

"The only thing you could do against me was using that program again and combining your powers to destroy me." – Vaxdis smirked grew. – "But that's not gonna happen. This is the end of the line for you."

Vaxdis' hands started to become half-liquid. The black and red-lined substance began to drown the five of them. Kari had one final look at Vaxdis triumphant sneer before the blackness overcame her two.

The giant had engulfed his enemies as he had done with XANA. Now, he was ready to take over what was left of the core of the Digital World and then rise all the way up to the surface.

XANA was gone. The children of Light and Hope were now within him. There was nothing in the outside that could stop Vaxdis now.

_In the castle…_

It was pandemonium. Especially with Matt and Tai. The two older brothers were worried sick. Matt actually used some colorful language, saying he had lost his brother right after rescuing him. It took Hopper and Gennai, who had just returned, to calm them down assuring that TK and Kari were still alive.

"We've been monitoring their life signs." – Hopper spoke calmly. – "They, their partners and Nat-chan are alive."

"Matt and Tai," – Gennai squinted his eyes. – "are you sure you didn't see what struck you?"

"We told you, for the umpteenth time, all we saw was a flash of red and next thing, it pushed us into the portal." – Tai muttered. Gennai had sent the allied digimon to the Server continent after thanking their assistance. The other veteran digidestined were sent back to their homes. They were already in a tight schedule and their partners were exhausted, either way. This happened before Tai and Matt were forcedly sent back to the castle; they went worried sick and automatically accused XANA.

"It was all XANA's doing." – Matt grunted.

"I don't think so." – Hopper interrupted. – "I've been monitoring XANA's signals. From what I can tell, he's very dead."

That realization took a few minutes to take in. Looks of disbelief slowly turned into small smiles. But those quickly died down before being fully born. In any other time, the demise of their hated enemy would have them burst in victory and rejoice. But the possible loss of more friends, this time very close ones, put icing water on their happiness.

"The signals we've been tracking appear to belong to Davis." – Gennai said after a small pause.

"But if XANA's dead why would Davis still be under his control?" – Yumi questioned. A response to that was the castle and all the land shaking.

"Digiquake!" – Gennai shouted out loud but it stopped before anyone could take cover.

"What was that?" – Ulrich asked aloud.

"It couldn't have been a normal digiquake." – Renardmon answered. – "They don't just come and go like that!"

"_Guys!_" – Jeremie spoke for the first since the arrival. – "_I'm getting a strange reading…there's something erupting from the depths of the Digital World._"

"What is it, Jeremie?" – Aelita asked. Hopper checked the monitors and showed the frame of the digital world's layers, with some kind of red substance coming from the core. The red stuff was rising to a specific point, almost reaching the surface.

"What is that?" – Labramon asked.

"XANA?" – Odd asked.

"No, that couldn't be." – Hopper analyzed the input. – "Whatever it is, it's coming on a b-line to the crust, while spreading to the sides."

"Meaning?" – Tsukaimon groaned.

"I understand. It's like a cancer, spreading through every direction." – Aelita compared. – "Except in this case, it's going mainly for the surface."

"Thanks for the obvious translation," – Tsukaimon rolled his eyes. – "but what is it and why is coming to the surface?"

Once again, a digiquake answered the question. The mainframe flashed warning signs.

"What now?" – Matt groaned exasperated.

"Oh, my!" – Gennai winced. – "The unknown entity…is coming to this very castle!"

In less than a fraction of a second, the heroes were speeding out of the room. Ken was about to take off to when he spotted a downed blue shape: DemiVeemon. After Davis had gone missing, DemiVeemon regressed back to his moping state.

"Hey, let's go DemiVeemon." – Ken offered him a hand but the digimon ignored it.

"What's the point? We got Davis back and he disappeared again."

Ken wasn't very experienced on the pep-talk department. Davis would have been more adept at that.

"Listen, when Wormmon was gone. I felt just like you. I didn't even believe my parents loved me." – Ken recalled that time when he woke up and asked his parents who they were, soon after leaving the robe of emperor behind. Wormmon looked at his partner sadly. – "When we lose the best of friends we tend to cast the others aside in our grief. But that's not the right thing to do. If you want to see Davis again, you need your other friends. And we're here for you, just like we're here for Davis."

The tiny digimon didn't reply, but he looked Ken differently and after a moment of hesitation, leaped into his hand. He and Wormmon ran outside, trying to catch up with their friends. When they finally reached outside, all were amazed to see a giant Davis standing. His body was made of a black, red-lined (much like his outfit) slimy substance coming out of the ground.

"Davis!"

"Davis? Please." – he said in a carefree, mock-friendly tone. – "The name's Vaxdis. Got it memorized?"

"What happened to you? You were supposed to be free!" - Ulrich spat.

"Look, I already explained the whole deal to those losers back on Lyaku." – Davis replied nonchalantly. – "So let's just skip to the part when you guys digivolve, I kill you and become king of the world. Period."

_TK and Patamon…_

TK doubted he was in Lyaku anymore. While XANA was imaginative enough to create virtual realities where the laws of physics could be easily challenged, he doubted the villain would bother to create such thing as the place he and Patamon were now in.

Said place was a valley with very particular elements. The few trees present were as if turned upside down. The bottom was made of branches covered in leafs bounded to the ground. The tree tops were dark, thick, leafless and shaped like roots. The river that coursed between two paths of trees was actually made of fire. And yet, the land and plants didn't burn when touching it. Instead, the fiery stream seemed to nourish the flora.

"TK, look!" – Patamon pointed up. The human did so and saw more elements out of an 'Alice in Wonderland' novel. The sky was dark and full of stars as the night. However, the star illuminating the landscape like it was day was the sun. And to top it off, the clouds weren't white or grey. They were brown and didn't appear to be solid.

"The sun is up but the sky says it's nighttime." – TK quirked an eyebrow. – "And the clouds are made of dust."

"Why do I get the feeling that night here is a white blue sky with a shinning moon?" – Patamon mused. – "What is this place anyway?"

TK searched in his memory but could just recall when Vaxdis…_engulfed_ them.

"Is this…inside Vaxdis?"

"TK," – Patamon spoke with an emotion TK couldn't properly identify. It sounded like embarrassment mixed with disbelief and confusion. – "if Vaxdis is possessing Davis, then we're inside Davis. I'm pretty sure humans don't look like this on the inside."

"How do you know that?" – TK gave his digimon a quizzical look. – "Have you been watching Discovery Channel's documentaries about human anatomy, again?"

"Yeah…a lot."

"Ok, we should probably scout the area. It'll be easier if we do it from the air." – TK pulled out his D-3. Patamon prepared to digivolve but a voice distracted them both.

"Scout as you may, but a higher point of view isn't always explanatory."

"Who's there?" – TK asked, suddenly on alert. Patamon stood ready, looking for any visible threat. There was no one around for miles.

"Who indeed?"

"TK, look!" – Patamon pointed one of his tiny hoof to a wide, white grin standing in mid hair. Then two big feline eyes joined the disembodied grin. Then a figure began to materialize with the eyes and the grin. It was a cat, but not a normal cat. The grin it flashed with white sharp fangs gave TK an awkward feeling.

"Hello!" – the animal greeted, not losing the grin.

"Um, hello." – TK replied preferring not to be offensive. – "So you're a cat."

"Cheshire cat." – the feline corrected.

"_Don't tell me this is Wonderland_." – TK mentally begged.

"Are you a digimon?" – Patamon asked but the cat didn't answer verbally, just purred.

"Do you know where this place is?"

"Where? Where? A question that like so many confounds the mind, the heart and the soul." – the cat made a pause that made TK's frustration jump a notch. – "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Poor Davis, his soul wasting away in the cold depths of his heart while Vaxdis reigns supreme."

"Davis! You know where he is? We're really _inside_ his body?"

"What is Davis? And what is body?" – the Cheshire cat mused. – "More questions to trouble the mind, the heart and the soul."

TK kicked a nearby rock, losing his patience. He and Patamon were lost, Kari was probably too. And this _cat_ wasn't any help at all.

"Come on, Patamon." – the two turned around and walked away.

"Be cautious, for Vaxdis is on the throne now. Make too much racket and he'll hear you." – at this, the two stopped on their tracks and looked back at the grinning cat. – "He rules the heart, watches the mind and has the soul prisoner."

"Soul is prisoner…heart is ruled…mind is watched?" – TK said more to himself, eyes narrowed in thought. – "If this was the heart, we would have ran into trouble by now…so this is the mind."

He gazed at the feline for confirmation but it only purred. TK figured this cat only talked something remotely useful and not cryptic when people lost patience and ignored it.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." – and with that, the Cheshire cat vanished.

"I think we just met one of Gatomon's very messed up relatives." – Patamon sighed.

"This all place is messed up." – TK spread his arms taking in the weirdness of the place. – "Davis' mind is bigger mess than I thought."

"Maybe not just Davis' mind. Maybe all human minds are like this. Scientists say they're still a long way to crack the mysteries of the human mind." – Patamon argued and TK made an amused roll of eyes:

"You really have been watching too much Discovery Channel."

Later, the two had walked to the end of the valley. On their way they met grazing lions who were then chased by carnivorous zebras. The two had simply watched with distance as the zebras captured and killed an adult lion with a single bite of their pointless teeth. But neither meat-eating zebras nor vegetarian lions could have prepared for what they met in the end of the valley.

There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. The valley ended in an infinite blank space. Not land, no sky, nothing but whiteness immensity as far as the eye could see.

"Weird. It's like the mind ends here." – TK mused gazing at the blank space.

"Davis wasn't known for having a big mind." – Patamon commented. TK, out of mere curiosity, took a step into the white wilderness and vanished.

"TK!" – Patamon put a hoof in the white space and he also disappeared.

He materialized into a different scenario, right beside TK. They were in a frozen city. The sky was shrouded in grey clouds and the town covered in snow. There was nobody around to be seen. It was a snowy ghost town.

TK put his hands around his chest. It wasn't cold enough to paralyze him on the spot but it was still very uncomfortable. Patamon had the same problem so TK put him in his arms.

"What's this place now?"

TK wondered back to what the Cheshire cat had said. The soul is prisoner, the heart is ruled and the mind is watched. They had just left the mind, so…Another sentence came into his train of thought. The cat had also said: '_Poor Davis, his soul wasting away in the cold depths of his heart…'_

"Patamon…I have a feeling we're in Davis heart."

"Didn't the cat say something about his soul being here?" – Patamon recalled.

"Yeah…" – TK examined his surroundings. – "Maybe if we find him, we can help Davis regain control of his body. But first let's warm up."

TK went into a clothing store and fetched himself a woolen coat, snow boots, and a thick cap over his trademark hat. He wrapped two warm scarfs around Patamon's torso and the two continued their journey.

_With Kari's group…_

"I know this place."

Nat-chan's words had a strange tone of nostalgia. She, Kari and Gatomon had landed on the frozen city. The first thing they had done was collecting some more adequate clothing. Gatomon accepted a scarf and cap but no footwear, claiming it would slow her down in a fight.

"I have been here before." – the others gazed quizzing at her, mentally asking for elaboration. – "This was where I met Davis."

Kari quickly ran her memory. According to what Mimi had said, she, Willis, Gumimon, DemiVeemon and Davis were transported to a snowy abandoned New York. Some strange world where Nat-chan dwelled in. Later, Mimi had theorized that world could have been…

"Davis' heart?"

"Kari?" – Gatomon asked.

"I think we're inside Davis' heart."

"Patamon once told me one or two things about humans' insides." – Gatomon retorted. – "He never mentioned a heart looking like this."

"Not the literal heart." – Kari elucidated. She half wondered where and what Patamon had learnt about human anatomy.

"Even though, it's not a welcoming place." – Gatomon scouted the view. While the city looked deserted, it held a malevolent feeling. As if the city was a living being watching their every move. – "Come on, standing here is making my paws cold and itchy."

The three began their journey, occasionally casting their eyes for any in-coming menace. The walk was silent save for any topic the three talked about.

"This place is different than last time." – Nat-chan frowned. – "There's someone watching us all around."

"Yeah, I get that too." – Kari added. – "Since we're inside Davis, but Vaxdis is in control, I'll say the bad guy is eavesdropping."

"Then why hasn't that jerk come for us?" – Gatomon put her claws on edge.

"Maybe it's just Vaxdis' sick game. Or he doesn't think we're a threat." – Kari suggested.

The walk continued in a too-quiet-calm until the city just ended and a field of control spires began. The field was dispersed and many of the spires were askew.

"Should we go in?" – Nat-chan asked.

"It's not like we'll find anything in this New York." – Kari shrugged and then added awkwardly – "I'm starting to act like Davis."

"We're inside his heart." – Gatomon shrugged but Kari got the idea.

The control spire territory was just as quiet as the city. The main difference besides the scenario was, the invisible presence felt stronger. The girl practically expected something to jump out of the shadows and attack.

A soft moaning broke the silence and put the three on guard. The moaning carried on despite nothing came. It sounded tired and…familiar.

"There." – Kari whispered. She pointed at a control spire with chains wrapped around it. The sounds came from there, someone chained to the tower. They made their way there and were surprised to see who they found.

"XANA!"

The entity chained to the dark tower was made of frozen smoke, shaped like a deformed Eye of XANA. Red, thin roots were plugged to XANA and descended into the ground. Vaxdis was using his new powers by sponging off XANA. The frozen smoke creature didn't move, but they could hear its hated voice:

"**I take it he got you, too.**"

"We got luckier than you, XANA." – Nat-chan replied. Gatomon stood in front hissing at the trapped enemy.

"**You'll never defeat Vaxdis. Not without my help.**"

"And we're supposed to set you free after all you've done? I don't think so." – Kari turned her back and began to leave.

"**With Vaxdis using my powers I can see what he's causing outside. Your friends won't last much longer. You can't do anything to save them or Davis. Vaxdis has been planning this for a long time. He has contingencies even if you could set Davis free in here.**"

"So Davis is really here?" – Nat-chan asked anxious. Kari didn't want to ask XANA for anything but her devotion to her friends made her halt.

"**Mind is watched. Heart is ruled.****Soul is prisoner. This is Davis' heart. It's been through an ice age like this since I tricked that buffoon into believing you and the others trash talked behind his back.**" – XANA chuckled at the memory despite his situation. – "**Good times!**"

"Shut up!" – Kari groaned.

"**The soul is prisoner within the heart. At the tallest of the control spires.**" – XANA continued without caring. – "**This prison was created by Vaxdis to keep Davis on a leash. Right now he is watching our every move and word. I suspect he won't interfere since he's busy and doubts you'll make an alliance with me.**"

"He's right. We don't want anything with you." – Kari said sternly and walked away, Nat-chan and Gatomon by her side. Then Gatomon told them to stop:

"I've got an idea." – the digimon leaped and climbed all the way to the top of a control spire and looked into the horizon. The field of spires continued where the city didn't existed. It was easy to get lost in it. But she spotted it; the tallest of the spires was about twice the size of the others. And, barely visible, was a small figure chained to it. Gatomon descended and told them what she found:

"XANA was right. Davis is here."

"What if this is XANA's trap?" – Nat-chan asked.

"We have to at least try." – Kari decided. – "Besides, I don't think XANA could have staged this. Not on that shape."

"Then let's go!" – Gatomon armor-digivolved into Nefertimon and the three flew to the tower. On the way, Nefertimon commented:

"Kari, I don't think you're acting more like Davis. You're acting like Tai."

_Back outside…_

The digimon were too tired to digivolve all the way to Mega or Ultimate again. So they settled for Champion level. Gennai had informed the other digidestined and the Sovereigns. Now that Vaxdis was directly threatening the world, they could intervene. The allied digimon volunteered to help once again and were coming.

The heroes at first thought it to be a walk in the park. Even with only Champions versus a giant, evil 'Davis', they would still have the other digimon backing them up. That hope died once Vaxdis revealed the full extent of his new power.

"Children, I have bad news! Vaxdis is blocking the digiports to this area." – Gennai announced grimly. Another digiquake broke and Vaxdis bellowed a laugh. The skies grew cloudy and lightning struck.

"Great! More good news!" – Ulrich dodged a blow of Vaxdis' fist. Up until now the giant had only used simple attacks. He was mocking them, not using his real potential. But things look like he was about to take this seriously. And that made Ulrich feel no better.

"Time to make this world mine!" – Vaxdis bellowed and cracks opened all over the ground. Aquilamon had to catch Yolei before she fell to her untimely doom. Cody was safe with Ankylomon as long the digimon didn't fall.

"Hey, what gives!?" – Greymon growled. Massive and powerful vines erupted out of the ground and held him tightly. His mouth was forced shut so he couldn't burn them. The other digimon were facing similar problems as the nature itself seemed to turn against them.

"Oh, no!" – back at the castle, Gennai sighed after analyzing the data. He had finally learnt what was happening. – "I understand it now. Vaxdis is corrupting the Digital World from within. He's gaining control over the world itself!"

But it was too late to tell the heroes. Digimon, digidestined and Lyoko Warriors alike were weary and immobilized.

"Yumi, now would be a great time for you to pull off a miracle." – Odd sighed, having been shot down by a rock fired from the earth.

"Don't you think I would have done that, if I could control it!"

"Lightning Whip!" – a deep voice echoed through the sky and lightning struck Vaxdis full on. The giant bellowed in pain and his titanic body was tossed away into a mountain. The stroke made the earth tremble again. The vines and rocks trapping the heroes went loose.

"Great job, Yumi." – Odd high-fived.

"That wasn't me." – Yumi used her fans to release Youkomon.

"Wow!" – Odd whistled. – "Is that…the big blue?"

"Azulongmon!" – Cody said in awe. True enough, the humongous blue digimon came from high above the solemn clouds.

"Been a long time we've seen him." – Yolei said. The super Mega didn't acknowledge them. Vaxdis was back on his feet and glaring hatefully at his new opponent.

"Alright, finally a fair fight!" – William grinned.

"I wouldn't call it that, just yet." – Gennai shouted, running to them. – "Azulongmon may have control over the sky, but Vaxdis is, minute by minute, gaining further control over the whole Digital World."

"Then big blue might wanna wrap this up ASAP." – Ulrich said.

"Where are the other Sovereigns?" – Aelita asked.

"Vaxdis is stalling them. They're fighting the elements of their own domains to get here. The sky is still virtually free of Vaxdis corruption." – Gennai explained. The heroes were too weak to assist Azulongmon. And, in the long run, it would probably be for the best if they stood out of the fight. When two giant face off, an ant could easily be crushed.

"So Mr. High-and-Mighty wants to play." – Vaxdis threw his hands to the sky. Lightning sparked and turned against the Sovereign but Azulongmon couldn't be hurt by his own element.

"Aurora Force!" – Azulongmon made a circle with his own serpentine body and released a shinnying white light. Blinded and weakened by the light, Vaxdis was once again slammed against another mountain. Azulongmon prepared for another attack.

"Flashstep!" – Vaxdis speed saved him. A black blur with red lines left a trail of destruction wherever it ran. He stopped right behind Azulongmon:

"Red Giant!" – the great orb of red energy struck Azulongmon's back. The mighty dragon roared in pain but wasn't out of the fight yet. He rose up to the sky and passed through the layer of clouds. No one could see where he had gone.

"That's it? He just ran away?" – Matt looked dumbfounded.

"Dance of Raijin!" – Azulongmon's voice bellowed and chains descended from the sky like snakes. They trapped Vaxdis tightly, pinning his arms to his chest. Azulongmon descended preparing to strike his immobilized opponent.

"Oh, yeah! That's how it's done!" – Odd and Labramon cheered.

"Supernova!" – Vaxdis outburst shattered the chains and even tossed Azulongmon away. The dragon was now dangerously close to the ground which Vaxdis noted.

Strands of black, red-lined slime burst out of the earth and caught Azulongmon. He struggled to get free but to no avail. Vaxdis approached his captive with a predatory smirk.

"Well, look what we caught." – Vaxdis eyed the digimon with malevolent glee. Azulongmon retorted with a challenging glare. – "What to do now? Oh, I know. I'm going to devour your data…"

The black substance that was Vaxdis' extension of his very being expanded and started to engulf Azulongmon slowly. The digimon was using his power to keep the corruption at bay, but could only slow it down.

"Still resisting, hey?" – Vaxdis had a glimpse of the digidestined and their pets coming. – "Get lost, flees!"

Vaxdis waved with his hand and a powerful gust of wind hurled them backwards. Vaxdis got his gaze back on Azulongmon, particularly the digi-cores he possessed.

"These are cool-looking toys you have." – Vaxdis pulled one of the cores. The object fought back, trying to remain attached to its owner. But Vaxdis persisted and the core gave in.

"What is he doing?" – Tai was the first to came about, bruised all over.

"Oh, no!" – Gennai spoke with horror. – "He has one of Azulongmon's digi-cores!"

Vaxdis gave a curious look at the digi-core. Azulongmon was struggling twice as hard to get his digi-core back.

"This is actually kinda pretty." – he spoke genuinely. – "You used this to give the digimon their fully digivolved forms back. I wonder …what it could do for me."

Everyone looked in shock as Vaxdis opened his mouth and swallowed the digi-core whole. The round object filled most of his throat as it went down. Vaxdis took a deep breath and when he opened his eyes, they glowed in white blue light. The tiredness disappeared and gave place to an enormous boost of strength.

"Now that was a total rush." – he raised his arms up and shot lightning from his palms into the sky. – "This is what I call POWER!"

Vaxdis created a whip of pure electricity on his hand and slashed at Azulongmon. The digimon roared in pain, but also in aggravation. Vaxdis grinned as he gave another lash.

"If just one of your cores got me all jacked up like this, what will happen if I absorb your data?" – the villain mused as he gave a third lash.

_About 10 minutes before…_

"Davis!" – Nat-chan shouted to the figure chained to the tallest tower. There was Davis, unconscious.

"So, you girls got here first." – TK spoke. He and Angemon had just arrived at the place.

"How did you guys got here?" – Kari asked.

"A talking cat told us about it a cryptic way." – TK just shrugged. Kari just looked at him strangely.

"Even I find that weird." – Gatomon but in. – "And I _am_ a talking cat."

"But you don't talk weird." – Patamon noted.

"Is that the _real_ Davis?" – TK asked, partly wanting to end the subject.

"We think so. Let's break him out." – Gatomon urged.

"Something's not right." – TK held them back. – "We were told that Vaxdis has his eyes and ears in Davis heart. If we're in the heart, Vaxdis should have already known we're here."

"If he knew, he would have tried to stop us already." – Kari argued. – "Come on, if we save Davis, maybe he can fight Vaxdis' control."

"Not so fast!" – a voice dangerously thundered and the earth beneath their feet swallowed them five to their knees. – "Isn't this a _deja vú_?"

Vaxdis appeared between them and the tower. He was semi-transparent like a ghost.

"Vaxdis! How did you…"

"Knew you were here?" – Vaxdis sneered. – "I always knew. My enemies always think they are one step ahead of me because I let believe that."

"I let you twerps reach Davis' soul" – he walked up to them. The ground continued to slowly swallow them. – "to see your faces when you were so close to save your pathetic friend."

"Patamon!" – TK tried to grab his partner, but Patamon was completely swallowed. – "Vaxdis! When I get out of here…"

TK drowned in the soil before he could finish the threat. Nat-chan was the next. Only Gatomon and Kari left.

"You never had any chance Kari. Remember that in your next life." – Vaxdis chuckled and vanished.

"Gatomon," – Kari said calmly. – let's save Davis."

"But Kari…I can't digivolve."

"Yes you can!" – Kari spoke with strength but not forcedly. – "We are the partnership of the Light. From the moment we freed TK I knew we could do anything. Remember what we promised after going to Lyaku?"

"We would never give up." – Gatomon gave a toothy grin. – "You are really Tai's sister."

None of them noticed a glowing blue orb descending slowly from the cloudy sky. But Davis' soul, still chained to the tower, stirred and had a small glimpse through sore eyes.

Blue orb…light…it felt so familiar…Veemon…

"Veemon…" – the soul sighed before falling into oblivion again.

_With the outsiders…_

"_Veemon…_"

"Davis." – DemiVeemon woke up hearing the voice of his partner calling out to him. Vaxdis was still injuring and trying to corrupt Azulongmon's data. The small digimon ran to Ken and Stingmon who had just woke up before him.

"Guys, I need to talk to Davis."

"DemiVeemon," – Ken coughed. – "Vaxdis won't listen."

"It's not about _him_. I need to talk to Davis."

Ken gave a look to Stingmon. The Champion looked at DemiVeemon in a pause before nodding. Stingmon flew them up to Vaxdis' face.

"What are they doing?" – Hawkmon asked.

"Ken, don't you dare getting yourself killed!" – Yolei roared.

"What's this?" – Vaxdis stopped attacking Azulongmon and looked down on them hovering in front of his face, making no other move. – "You're surrendering?"

"Davis," – DemiVeemon called out. – "you always told me to fight bullies and don't give up."

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name is VAXDIS!"

"I'm not talking to you!" – DemiVeemon retorted spitefully. – "I'm talking to my friend and when gets his body back, you'll be sorry."

"Oh, you think that loser can hear you, Smurf?"

"I know he can, 'cause I can hear him too!"

"Your pal is never coming back." - Vaxdis sneered and raised his fist. – "I'm erasing his spirit as we speak. And now you'll join him!"

The heroes looked in horror as Vaxdis brought his fist down to squash Stingmon. Then, his fist just halted.

_Within Davis' heart…_

The light of the digi-core finally got Kari's and Gatomon's attention. The two feels themselves been pulled gently up and out of the earth. TK, Patamon and Nat-chan emerge right away, too. They cough, having almost suffocated.

"TK! Guys, you ok?"

"What is _that_?" – Patamon asked, gazing at the light. The five looked up to the light which glowed immensely brighter and bathing everything.

_Gatomon divine-digivolve to… AncientOphanimon!_

_Patamon divine-digivolve to…AncientSeraphimon!_

To say they were glowing was an understatement. This two new super Megas were different apart of the regular Ophanimon and Seraphimon. Like its regular counterpart, AncientOphanimon imparts the loving and merciful side of God. But unlike her regular version, she loves all life, human and digimon alike. Her green-blue armor covered all of her body and was more slender and fit for fighting. This allowed AncientOphanimon rapid movements. Her helmet covered with a crucifix covered all of her face, including the mouth. Her 5 pairs of wings were made of multi-colored light that moved like flames. Her hair was shoulder-length and in shade of platinum yellow. She was the bringer and lover of life, the Light.

AncientSeraphimon had a few key differences over his regular counterpart, too. Her armor was fitter to allow better reflexes. The wings were also made of the rainbow, burning light. He was, like all Seraphimon, was a wise and just enforcer of the law. But the difference was AncientSeraphimon was also the protector of AncientOphanimon, the protector of the Light, which drew its strength through him. He was the Hope.

Right then Vaxdis reappeared. He was clenching his teeth, but a twinkle of fear was slightly visible in his eyes. AncientOphanimon, knowing things were about to get nasty, descended quickly to grab Nat-chan and dropped her safe.

"New digivolutions, like that's ever worked. It's not like whenever you guys reach a new form you have victory guaranteed."

"You can't win, Vaxdis! And you know it." – AncientSeraphimon spoke with a voice filled with power and age.

"Surrender now. Let go of this mindless quest for power, and your soul will be saved."

"Soul?" – Vaxdis sneered. – "As if! I have no soul. The only soul around here that needs saving is Davis'. But not on my watch."

Vaxdis took a deep breath and concentrated his energy. One by one, replicas of Vaxdis emerged from the ground like zombies crawling out of the grave. Soon there were dozens of thousands of Vaxdis on the ground.

"Forgotten so soon?" – the Vaxdis clones spoke, their countless voice all as one. – "This body is mine. This is my Universe. Red Giant!"

It was like millions of human-sized volcanos firing their super-heated wrath. The big, red energy spheres were shot against the two hovering angels.

"Shield of the Mother!" – AncientOphanimon's left arm gained a shield with the Crest of Light and a crucifix carved in. The shield formed a barrier of light which retained the multiple attacks.

"Holy Retribution." – AncientSeraphimon shouted and the red orbs were sent right back to the attackers. Almost half of the Vaxdis were wiped out by their own attacks.

"Sefirot Diamonds!" – AncientOphanimon fired ten diamonds below and more enemies were annihilated in ten explosions of light.

"Uriel Sword!" – AncientSeraphimon held a sword of flames. – "AncientOphanimon, go help the child. I have your back."

"Like in the old days, old friend." – she smiled under her helmet. AncientSeraphimon descended in high speed while AncientOphanimon went for Davis' soul.

"Divine Transcendence!" – AncientSeraphimon slaughtered Vaxdis after Vaxdis with slashes of his flaming blade too fast for the human eye to see. Some of the enemies saw the other angel going to rescue Davis and attempted to attack from behind. AncientSeraphimon, being the faithful protector and bringer of justice, intervened.

"Mighty Heavens!" – he brought his hand down and seven great spheres of energy fell from the sky like meteors and wiped out the attackers.

"Wow!" – Nat-chan couldn't help but staring at the display of immense power. One moment everything was against them. The next, Patamon and Gatomon digivolved into god-like Megas. But one question popped into her mind, now that she noted someone was missing. – "Where are Kari and TK?"

"Javelin of the Guardian!" – AncientOphanimon summoned her trusted javelin and stabbed the Vaxdis in her way, reducing them to dust. Despite all of her power, she didn't want to risk expending it on fighting. She was here to save a soul, not to punish the guilty. So she flew higher and pointed her javelin at the sky. – "Eden's Radiance!"

A beam of multi-colored light was fired into the sky and it rained into multi-colored rain. The enemies on the ground cried out in pain as the purifying energy felt like acid to them.

Some of the water reached Davis' soul and the chains binding his arm broke. Opening his eyes slowly again, the soul gazed at the sky and raised his bruised arm. In his hand he had a blue D-3 and shot a beam of light into the sky.

"_Veemon…do it, buddy._"

_Back on the outside…_

Everyone's horror slowly turned into confusion as Vaxdis just stood there with his fist raised. The giant couldn't move his arm. A small dot of light shone in his chest.

"No!" – Vaxdis looked in disbelief. A beam of light shot from the dot and struck DemiVeemon. The tiny digimon turned into Veemon and floated above Stingmon.

"_Veemon…dot it, buddy._"

_Veemon golden armor-digivolve to…Magnamon!_

"Magnamon is back!" – Ken wouldn't believe it if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes. Stingmon flew away, intending to keep his partner away of the battle.

"But, how could he golden armor-digivolve?" – Yumi said. She recalled in Lyaku Patamon couldn't go armor because William had the digi-egg of Hope. – "I still have the digi-egg of Miracles."

"And Davis is still possessed." – Cody added.

"Magna Blast!" – Magnamon's attack went for the essence of Vaxdis keeping Azulongmon trapped. The Sovereign was still debilitated but free.

"You!" – Vaxdis roared, regaining control of his arm. – "I'll crush you for that, you flee!"

"This is for you, Davis! Magna Explosion!"

_At the same time, inside Davis' heart…_

"AAHHH!" – AncientOphanimon broke the chains impaling her javelin on them. She gently grabbed Davis soul and called out for her partner. – "AncientSeraphimon, I have the child safe."

AncientSeraphimon nodded and used another round of 'Mighty Heavens' to finish off the few remaining enemies. It was time for AncientOphanimon to do what she always did best: purifying.

"Ophanim Salvation!" – she cried out and her body unleashed a blast of light in a circular wave. Where the light passed, the snowy and gloomy environment turned bright and warm. The snow took place to a green meadow. The buildings of the far away city shone like crystal. The sun illuminated the now cloudless sky and the control spires turned into tall majestic trees.

Davis' soul regained its strength and for the first time smile. He turned into light and vanished from AncientOphanimon's arms, finally free. She went to get Nat-chan.

"The child soul has regained control of his body. We must take our leave, now." – with that, both angels and the girl/digimon vanished.

_Outside…_

Magnamon's attack had struck Vaxdis head on and the giant had died out in the small golden sun. All around the Digital World, the essence of Vaxdis was dying out.

"Look!" – Aelita pointed to two new figures in the sky. AncientSeraphimon had the unconscious Davis while AncientOphanimon had Nat-chan. Every digimon, even Magnamon and Azulongmon, looked in amazement and slight reverence to the two angels.

"The ancients? It can't be." – Gennai said in disbelief.

The two angels landed smoothly on the ground and everyone gathered around them in stunned silence. AncientSeraphimon handed Davis to Magnamon. The two angels smiled at each other under their helmets and turned into light, dissolving into fireflies.

Where the two angels used to be, now Gatomon, Kari, Patamon and TK laid out cold. Davis was also out. Jeremie spoke for the first time, demanding in an exasperated tone:

"_Can someone _please_ tell me what just happened here?_"

_That night…_

"_Divine-digivolution, hu?_" – Gennai said. The four heroes were brought home where they rest. They eventually recovered and told them what had happened. Now they were still resting and Izzy was reporting to Gennai what they had learnt from them. – "_That type of digivolution is even older than armor-digivolving. Almost legendary. According to our oldest records, Divine-Digivolution allows a digimon to evolve into an extinct digimon by using a strand of its residual data. However, this digivolution requires a great deal of energy. This is where TK and Kari came in. They gave the energy and the digi-core gave the data."_

"That explains a lot. Neither of those four remembers exactly what happened." – Izzy recalled what the four that made the two angels had said. – "They said when they digivolved, they felt like somebody else was with them."

"_Those two digimon were actually extinct long ago. They were each one of a kind, part of a group of primordial digimon called the Primeval. Legends say the Primeval built the digital world with their powers."_

"So, they are like the digimon's pantheon of gods?"

"_Yes, a pantheon that virtually no digimon truly believes in nowadays. But there's something else: some of the more…recent myths say that some of the digi-cores of the Sovereigns were partly made up from the data of the Primeval. This was always believed to be stories and nothing more. Until now."_

"This is prodigious! I guess we were lucky Vaxdis chose that specific digi-core to swallow." – Izzy began thinking of the updates on his journal of the Digital World.

"_True. We were also fortunate Kari's light activated the core to allow them to divine-digivolve." –_ Gennai sighed. Then Izzy asked about the dreaded matter:

"What about XANA?"

"_Most of our reports say the same thing: XANA is dying. But later today we picked up something happening in the core. We sent a probe and found out a warehouse._"

"A warehouse? On Lyaku?"

"_No. Lyaku has been destroyed. On the cave system that makes the mantle. But whatever was hidden in there, is gone now. Our sensors detect XANA took whatever was hidden in there."_

"But what could have been? A weapon? Or maybe an antidote for himself?"

* * *

><p><span>Non-canon scene<span>:

XANA, in his smoke form, reposed on the deep, dark cave, in the Delete Continent. He had no memory of ever being this low. Lyaku was destroyed, and most of his weapons and projects were gone with it. He was stripped of his warriors. There was no power left to create monsters. And worst of all, he had just learnt that attack from AncientOphanimon had wrecked his life code.

XANA had his days numbered. He was dying and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"**I may be doomed. But I won't go down without saying goodbye.**"

He gave a look at the only thing he managed to save; the contents of his secret warehouse.

"**And I'll make sure my farewell is something the Digidestined will never forget.**"

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you liked this. My fict is about to come to an end. Just one more chapter for the fun of it and then it's the big finale. None of you can guess what that finale holds, that I'm sure.<strong>

**If you liked my two ancient digimon and their description, you're free to use them on your own ficts. For those who are thinking about it, Divine-Digivolution is NOT Biomerge. The two Ancient Megas were sort of reincarnated in the union of TK and Kari with their digimon. And this was only a one-time thing. **

**AncientOphanimon****:**

**Sefirot Diamonds: Summons 10 diamonds in the shape of the Sephiroth that attacks the enemy. This is the evolved version of the Sefirot Crystals**

**Eden's Radiance: A holy light that reaches the sky and rains down, purifying the enemy**

**Ophanim Salvation: Sacrifices a portion of her energy to break free victims of possession**

**Javelin of the Guardian: Calls for her javelin**

**Shield of the Mother: Calls for her shield**

**AncientSeraphimon****:**

**Mighty Heavens: Evolved form of Seven Heavens. Fires seven great orbs of holy energy from the sky **

**Divine Transcendence: Irradiates holy energy and strikes the enemy with multiple, agile attacks **

**Holy Retribution: An attack sent at AncientOphanimon's shield is turned back.**

**Uriel Sword: Calls for his flaming sword**


	33. Ep 30 Garden of Memories

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 30: Garden of Memories**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Zompires (Episode 26)**

**XANAfied Davis/Vaxdis (Episode 29)**

**AncientSeraphimon and AncientOphanimon (Episode 29)**

**This chapter was very rushed and poorly elaborated. Basically, Nat-chan's role is over and I wanted to give her a fine goodbye. However, my time is running out. This chapter was to include some scenes in the famous Hama Detached Palace Garden of Tokyo (which btw is beautiful) with Davis trying to help Nat-chan remembering her old life. And Tai and Kari almost been discovered by Nat-chan. So a part of this is resumed in bold. I don't have the time to imagine anything more, nor to write something which won't contribute to the plot.**

**But don't worry. The next chapters won't be like this. After all, I'm planning a great ending. But if someone is sad about the (possible) end of Nat-chanxDavis pairing, don't worry. She'll be mentioned again in the next chapters. Only 3 more chapters to go before the grand finale!**

**Notice this chapter begins in a different date than the others.**

_Crematorium in Tokyo, Year 2088 AD/ 86 PC_

Kari Kamiya watched in sorrow and a strange feeling of emptiness as Taichi Kamiya's coffin entered the chamber where it would burn. This funeral service was much more crowded than usual, seeing as Tai had been an ambassador and a good friend of Emperor Iori 'Cody' Hida.

"Gran-gran!" – Reyka sighed, hugging Kari.

Kari stood by her son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter Reyka. Tai had no descendants, though he sometimes acted as an extra dad for Kari's son, Ryo. Little Reyka, her grand-daughter, hugged Kari's waist. Reyka was just 7 and she had been the closest to Tai, after Kari herself. He was like an extra grandpa to Reyka, even though he could rarely be present.

Tai had been two months away from his 100th birthday when all the pressure and expense of a lifetime of trials, work and stress finally came to charge their debt. From all the digidestined who survived the Great Burn, Tai was the most resilient even after Davis practically deserted the group.

As Cody had taken place to say a few words in honor of the memory of their lost friend, Kari couldn't stop but remembering the days when everything seemed brighter…

_Paris, Kadic Academy, Year 2002 AD_

Jeremie Belpois was known as a workaholic. He usually put on all-nighters to work on the supercomputer, sometimes without supper. Though Aelita always brought him a tray of food.

In recent months, Jeremie had become known as the new star athlete and Casanova of Kadic. But apparently that had just turned out to be a phase, much to the chagrin of a few girls and Jim. That was the conclusion when everyone saw, one morning, Jeremie Belpois and Aelita Stones walking hand in hand. The boy genius was dressed in his old dorky clothes and not using the old confident and seductive smirk.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to join us for a late breakfast." – Odd flashed his grin. – "So the two of you having fun this early in the morning."

That morning, Jeremie hadn't come out of his room. Aelita went in and only about an hour later did they come out.

**(A.N.: We're rated T, so it's not what many of you are thinking.)**

The two ignored his comment and sat to eat solemnly. Most students were done eating but Odd stood behind to get seconds.

"Ok," – Odd frowned at them. – "Not the reaction I was hoping for."

Jeremie soon finished his short meal and left. Aelita tried to stop him, holding his hand. He wordlessly released his hand form hers and left the cafeteria.

"What's wrong with him?" – Odd asked. – "He's free from XANA. The creep's been quiet. So what's the prob?"

"Jeremie's been remembering…what XANA made him do." – Aelita spoke with a heavy voice.

"So XANA had him try to kick our butts, it's not li…" – Odd paused and his eyes went wide in slow realization. – "Oh…I get it now."

His mood turned sour after that. This is what the team had dreaded from the moment they learnt what happened to the rest of the digidestined, around the world. XANA, for months, had sent his enslaved warriors to go out and slaughter the foreign digidestined, one by one. **(****Episode 21: The Enemy's Hood)**

It was a long desired relief when TK, Jeremie, Ken and later, Davis, were set free. They didn't remember exactly what happened to them, only that XANA had controlled them. But as days passed, more and more memories lightened up.

Despite the loathing and resent towards XANA those four felt, the whole team was still wondering: What had become of XANA?

_Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Odaiba…_

"Hello, Davis." – Nat-chan called out. Davis, with DemiVeemon, was just returning home after a free day wandering aimlessly.

"Hi." – he saluted was dry and almost emotionless.

"Davis…" – she sounded hurt which he noticed.

"Sorry, Nat-chan…I just have been a little down." – he didn't mention the cause, though. Not like he even needed to. The whole group in general knew what was affecting the former XANA Warriors in recent days. After every night of sleep, more and more memories came back. In the last night, Davis had his first nightmare and DemiVeemon had to calm him down.

"It's ok. I need your help." – she said without hesitation.

"What is it?"

"Something…personal." – she said in sheepish tone. This made Davis a bit nervous; he had never given personal advice to a girl…or anyone for that matter.

"Let's go to my room." – he suggested and led her into his house. Mr. and Mrs. Motomiya were out for work but Jun was writing an essay on the computer.

"Yo, Jun." – Davis greeted his sister warmly. Having spent some long locked inside his own head by Vaxdis made Davis appreciate more his family and friends. He had tamed his feelings a little better and thought before talking. Jun greeted him in a likewise manner but she decided to tease him a little.

"How many kitties did you rescued from a tree, today?" – her eyes then laid on Nat-chan and she bowed. – "Hello."

"Hi, I'm Nat-chan." – the younger girl bowed back, respectfully.

"Hope my brother isn't annoying you with his pickup lines."

"No one is using pickup lines on anyone." – Davis growled, dragging Nat-chan to his room. – "You're the worst!" – he closed his door harshly.

Jun immediately went for her phone and dialed the number of the Kamiya residence.

"It's Jun. Yeah, they're in, Kari."

As Nat-chan could see, Davis room was messy, but not much since its real owner had recently settled back in. What was new were the many framed diplomas of good and altruist deeds. Like one for participating in a 'Save the Trees' environmentalist movement. Another one for selflessly helping in the daycare. Another for helping on an old people's home. Davis followed her gaze and sighed:

"That loony do-gooder of my second clone did this." – he sighed. Davis' second replacement clone was too friendly and participated in every selfless act of charity he could.

"That's why your sister meant about rescuing cats from trees?"

"Yeah, I've only been back for about a week and people still think I'm the goody-good Davis."

"At least he cleaned your reputation after that jerk first clone." – DemiVeemon added. Davis' first replacement clone, who would have betrayed the whole team, was a bully. On school, he mistreated both fellow classmates and total strangers. To top it off, he kicked DemiVeemon out of his room and the poor digimon had to live with the others.

But after the first clones treachery and demise, the Digidestined created a new one. The second Davis replica turned out to be overly happy and very devoted to helping people. Which was just fine with the heroes.

"Yeah, at least he did that." – he turned to Nat-chan. – "So what did you wanna talk about?"

"I've been having these weird dreams, lately." – she breathed deeply and paused before continuing. – "I'm standing on this place full of big colored eggs. Around them there are these piles of giant toy cubes and the ground looks like a colorful carpet."

DemiVeemon and Davis gave each other a look. That description sounded perfectly like a place they both knew.

"But then my hands just dissolved." – she even gave a sideways look at her hands, like they could disintegrate at any moment. – "I start to disappear and then I wake up. Always the same dream."

"That place sounds like Primary Village." – DemiVeemon commented.

"What's that?"

"You don't know?" – Davis was surprised. – "That's where all the digimon comeback as digieggs. We can go there, if you want."

"Yes, I do." – she went from stressed to anxious. DemiVeemon wanted to say something to Davis but it wasn't the time, with Nat-chan here. Minutes later, Davis asked Jun for the computer, but she said she was busy.

"Why don't you go to Kari's? She has a computer, too." – anyone else would have thought strange Jun suggesting particularly Kari, but Davis just let it slip. Nat-chan needed his help anyway.

"Davis, you remember the first time Nat-chan went with you to the Digital World?" – DemiVeemon whispered while they went back to Davis room. He referred the when XANA sent a polymorphic clone of the girl to lure Davis alone into the Scyphozoa.

"Don't worry, buddy. This time I checked." – that was true enough. Davis had stared into Nat-chan's eyes to make sure there was no XANA involved. When the three left for the Kamiya, Jun phoned Kari.

_In the house of the Kamiya…_

"Ok, thanks Jun." – Kari hang up with a growing smile.

"Since when are you bff with Davis' sister?" – Tai asked from the couch. This was the second time the two girls spoke on the phone, today.

"We're not bffs, Tai. I just asked her to warn me ahead if Davis brought Nat-chan to his house." – she spoke with a growing smile. Tai flinched at that.

"You're playing matchmaker, again?" – he sighed exasperated. – "I thought that was just a phase. Remember what happened last time you did it!"

"That was just an accident." – Kari muttered bashfully. The first time she played matchmaker was with Tai and his date, but it backfired against her brother horribly. – "I didn't want you to go…"

"Don't! Remind! Me!" – he shouted, dreading the memories of the disgraceful evening.

"Sorry…but this time I won't do much. I just want to follow them around to see how things go…mostly." – she ushered that last word very silently so Tai wouldn't hear it.

"Kari, honestly speaking, I don't think Davis and Nat-chan could become an item." – Tai shook his head. – "Sure they're tight but only because he's the first guy she has met and the only one she trusts. Davis is an okay guy but no amount of matchmaking can put him with Nat-chan."

"Maybe you'd like a bet." – she retorted.

"Fine by me." – Tai decided. – "If she even plants a suggestive peck on his cheek, you can do _whatever_ you want to my hair."

"Deal." – they shook hands. Davis, DemiVeemon and Nat-chan arrived at the Kamiya apartment and asked for the use of their computer. The siblings crisply agreed, saying they also needed to do stuff in the Digital World.

The truth was, while Nat-chan and her escorts walked to Primary Village, they were closely and stealthy followed by the Kamiya siblings.

"I can't believe I'm spying on Davis." – Tai muttered, behind a tree.

"Be quiet." – Kari uttered. – "It's not like you had anything better to do today."

"Yeah, but what makes you think they don't know we're eavesdropping on them?" – Tai looked at her.

"Because I can be stealthy. And I know how to stalk people." – Tai just stared hearing her answer.

"Kari…do you stalk people very often?"

"Here it is, Primary Village!" – Davis announced showing her the small town. The 'buildings' were made of giant toy cubes arranged in straight towers and digieggs were spread everywhere.

"Hey, there's Elecmon!" – Veemon pointed at the Digimon taking care of the babies.

"Yo, Elecmon!" – Davis ran to the red digimon. Though they had never met in their adventures before XANA, Davis went several times to Primary Village.

"Hello, Davis, Veemon." – Elecmon salute was genuine but silent. He had just put a handful of babies to sleep and didn't want to wake them up just now. He motioned them to make no loud noises. – "So what brings you here?"

"We brought a friend who needs to see this place. It might help her, a bit." – Davis didn't elaborate because honestly he couldn't guess how coming here would help Nat-chan. She just asked for his help and he, being Davis, offered it.

"Ok, where is she?" – Elecmon asked quirking an eyebrow. Davis gave him a weird look:

"What do you mean?" – he said pointing behind him. – "She's right…"

"Davis, Nat-chan is gone." – Veemon said looking behind them.

Nat-chan had wandered off to the middle of the village, her mind absent. Something eventually caught her attention: a tower of four cubes. The lower two were different shades of green, the third blue and top was yellow. It was the cube tower she saw in her dream. Nat-chan looked around and saw other familiar features like a specific tree and colorful triangle on the ground.

She quickly searched her memory for her point of view on the dream. She walked to a spot where she remembered seeing everything.

"_In front of the cube tower, tree on the right…"_ – she thought to herself, walking into the spot. – "_triangle on the left."_

When she stepped into the place and looked at her surroundings her vision went blank. Another flashback, like in the dream! There was that same place on Primary Village, only this time she was seeing it all from someone else's point of view.

And in the spot where she been in her dream, was now a digiegg. But its data was corrupted and the digiegg self-destruct before it could ever hatch.

Then the scenario changed. She was in her own view point again and running in a park with a small ball in her hands. She felt a lot smaller. A woman, her face covered in sun light, reached out her hand for the girl and smiled brightly.

Next she was watching a japanese styled tea house over a small hill. Something unlocked in a burst in her mind.

Nat-chan's memory blocked. She cried out and fainted. The cry called Davis, Veemon and Elecmon and abruptly woke up a few babies. The three came racing for the source of the scream. Elecmon attended to the babies while Davis and Veemon helped Nat-chan.

"Nat-chan, you ok?" – Davis shook her, trying to wake her up. From the distance, Tai and Kari watched the whole thing concealed in the bushes.

"Oh, man. Tell me this isn't one of those 'wake up kiss' things." – Tai muttered, sounding slightly afraid.

Davis took Nat-chan to a small river near the village that Elecmon indicated him. He and Veemon used some water to wake her up, which worked.

"Nat-chan, you ok?" – Davis repeated.

"Yeah…" – she coughed. – "I just saw something else. I remember now. I was a digiegg but I didn't last…"

She said that last part with a strange feeling of nostalgia.

"But I saw something else…it was the tea house of the Hamarikyu park."

"How do you know that?" – Davis said.

"Kari and Yolei showed me when we were sightseeing."

After helping Elecmon calming down the babies, the trio left for the real world with Kari and Tai tailing them.

Later that day, the three were going on a water bus to the garden. Davis had to use a good portion of his allowance to buy the tickets. Nat-chan looked at the ocean and other features of the Tokyo bay with that same strange nostalgic look. Davis joined her and asked what was wrong.

"I've been here before."

"Yeah, you, Kari and Yolei."

"No, before that." – she retorted. – "I fell I've been and seen this before. But I just can remember. I don't even know what I am."

"Nat-chan, I don't care if you're a girl or digimon." – Davis flashed his trademark grin. – "You're my friend and that's all that matters."

DemiVeemon listened to the conversation partly aside. At Davis request, he and Nat-chan were in a respectable truce. However, they were still no friends with each other. As a matter of fact, none of the other digimon were friends with her. Gatomon kept her relationship with Nat-chan as 'allies only'. Try as he might, there was something about the girl/digimon that smelled…bloodthirsty.

When the ship docked, Kari and Tai made their exit to be as inconspicuous as possible. When they returned home, they feared Davis or DemiVeemon would recognized them if they had to go to deserted place. So they quickly grabbed some clothes they rarely used, along with sunglasses and hats, to keep their disguises.

"Why do I let myself get into this stuff?" – Tai muttered. He had his massive hair brutally shoved in a hat and some pink sunglasses of Kari's in his face.

"Stop complaining. Your hair would give us away. And you always said you wanted to be a spy."

"Yeah, when I was like 5!" – Tai groaned. – "You really are obsessed whit this whole thing about coupling Davis and Nat-chan."

"I'm not obsessed. I'm trying to gain an advantage." – Kari countered. Tai eyed her suspiciously through his glasses.

"How so?"

"If I win this bet, I'll have leverage over you, should you ever again try to scare off TK," – she gave him a stern look. – "like you did with every other guy who ever asked me out."

"Oh, yeah. First, I'm your brother so I must protect you. Second, that only happens if you win this bet. Which you won't." – Tai ended the discussion there.

Few people disembarked which proved to be a good idea to get uncover. Nat-chan and Davis (with DemiVeemon in his arms) went to the Fujimi hill where they could see the Nakajima teahouse.

**As Nat-chan walks through the park, she gets more and more flashbacks. Eventually, she pieces the whole thing together. Her name is Natsumi and she used to come to the Hamarikyu park with her parents.**

**But one day, she saw some kind of distortion in the exit of the park, crossing a road. The distortion was a crude digi-gate and a Devidramon was half-away through. Unfortunately, a driver saw the distortion and freaked out, making the car crash into the digi-gate. This killed the Devidramon and Nat-chan. However, her body crossed into the gate a nano-second before death. So her body turned into data got mixed the Devidramon's. She lost her memories and ended up as a small bunch of deformed data between worlds. Eventually, that data made a failed attempt to be reconfigured as a digiegg.**

**Then, she met Davis in the Winter World. Because her data got mixed with the data of Devidramon and later corrupted by the 'fireflies', she ended up as that giant creature digimon. That's why she didn't get along with the other digimon; she was half an aggressive dark digimon. **

**Now with her memories back, the data that partly composed her body is cleared and Natsumi becomes a full human again.**

**Natsumi recalls where her parents lived. In the special ward Chūō, they find Natsumi's parents who hug their daughter in a touchy-feely family reunion.**

**Davis turns around and takes his leave but Natsumi runs and spots him.**

"Davis, wait!"

He turns back to her and freezes in his tracks when Natsumi wraps her arms around him and plants a long kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks for everything Davis. You're the best friend anyone can ask for." – Davis just stares at her, blushing. Natsumi giggles at his face. DemiVeemon sighs at that; expect Davis to fall on a girl's clutches so easily.

Natsumi noticed the small digimon and shot him a wide smile. DemiVeemon starts to cower but Natsumi grabs him and smothers him with a hug, rubbing her face in his.

"Sorry I was so mean to you. I never noticed how cute you are." – she spoke honestly.

Close enough, Tai and Kari were watching the all scene. Kari had a big smirk on her face since Natsumi gave Davis that kiss. Tai, on the other hand, had an horrified expression.

"I guess that counts as more than a 'suggestive peck on his cheek', hu big brother?" – Tai looked at his sister who shot a predatory look at his hair.

"Kari…" – he stammered pleading.

"No worries, Tai. I won't lay a finger in your hair if, and only _if_," – she put a big emphasis on the word. – "you stop scaring TK, threatening him and spying on our dates. Understood?"

"Deal." – he sighed. Tai knew when he was defeated.

Before Davis went away, Natsumi gave him another kiss on the cheek and passed his a small paper with something scribbled on it.

"Call me."

_Later that night…_

"_We can't be completely sure but…everything points in that direction._" – Gennai said. He was talking with Izzy, through the computer. After the battle with Vaxdis, Gennai and his associates had been tracking XANA's activity. Which was virtually none, whatsoever. – "_XANA is dying."_

"Super prodigious!" – Izzy sighed in awe.

"_He might be."_ – Gennai didn't want to give any false hopes, though he couldn't deny accepting this possibility was a very tempting bliss. – "_Apparently, A__cientOphanimon's attack and XANA being inside Vaxdis when she destroyed him cause permanent damage. XANA's life-code is been irreversibly corrupted like a cancer._"

"So, did we win?"

"_I wouldn't start partying just now, but…this might be finally over. But we still don't know one thing: where is XANA?"_

* * *

><p><span>Non-canon scene:<span>

The MoonMilleniummon prophet was going through another trance. Like when he made the prophecy that announced the awakening of the new digidestiend and their digimon. Except that one was a prophecy of hope. This new prophecy was much different and it spoke of the future of the Digital World:

_By the hand of the Chosen, the New Enemy will perish_

_But unguarded will be the world they cherish_

_Hope and Light are no longer the key_

_For the impending doom can stop not be_

_While one dark night will be over_

_A new darker one will the sun cover_

_Through mistake and error will set afire_

_A cruel fate…and the sky rains fire _

_So comes the end of the Digidestined Age_

_A world will be sowed with hatred and rage_


	34. Ep 31 A Glimpse of the End

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 31: A Glimpse of the End**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot**

**Jeremie's XANA attire (Episode 1)**

**the OverSkate (Episode 3)**

**the Lobscion (Episode 6)**

**YasashiiYanmamon (Episode 7)**

**Pakumon (Episode 8/24)**

**Cody's XANA-infected attire (Episode 9)**

**Davis XANAfied attire (Episode 14)**

**The Armor-Monsters (Episode 15)**

**Ken's XANAfied attire (Episode 17)**

**Davis Clone, Ken Clone and TK Clone**

**TK XANAfied attire (Episode 20)**

**Sector Gisaku (Episode 21)**

**Crest Powered Lyoko Warriors (Episode 23)**

**Lyoko Warriors D-3s (Episode 24)**

**Davis new XANA attire (Spin-off – Road to Peace)**

**XANADU Universe (Episode 25)**

**Zompires (Episode 26)**

**XANAfied Davis/Vaxdis (Episode 29)**

**AncientSeraphimon and AncientOphanimon (Episode 29)**

**The final chapters are here and the pieces are all coming together. Now, no more Non-canon scenes. However, by now you must know which of the scenes were actually part of the story. For those who don't, the chapters' whose scenes are not part of the story are ****Episode 26: French Kiss**** and ****Episode 25: Shattered Glass****.**

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2090 AD/ 88 PC_

The 102-year-old Cody Hida, Emperor of Japan, was walking slowly through the corridors of the palace, escorted by his guards. Cody was to address the people and read his newest poem. Cody was a known poet and a pacifist responsible for holding Japan together and forming bridges with other nations like China and the USA. Right now, he was to speak to the people about forgetting old divergences and building the future by forgetting the past and read his poem. A dangerous thing to do, according to Cody's personal doctor:

"Tennō Heika," – he had said, addressing the sovereign. – "your condition is very delicate. The least amount of stress could cause a heart fail. It is a miracle you're still alive, sir."

"Ever since I have sat on the throne, I have never backed down form my duty because my body said so. I won't start now that I'm older. Especially not to an event like this." – he had replied.

As he walked, the aging Emperor contemplated his life. It was a life filled with struggle, patience and persistence. Despite his advanced age, Cody was still alive and fit enough for his role. But times were weighting over him more than ever before. And all of that centered around one simple fact.

He was the last Digidestined.

All the others were gone.

Tai, who had perished 2 years ago, had been embroiled in the life trying to help a world as he had vowed 88 years ago.

Kari passed away just seven months ago, exhausted after a life of unsuccessfully trying to repair the damage XANA inflicted upon the soul of the Japanese people.

Davis, still Chairman of the Joint-Chiefs of Staff, died in office in 2085. Though Cody felt Davis, as their friend, had died many decades before.

Yolei, the first friend Cody had, was victim of cancer in 2079. TK, his old partner, was killed in a car accident on the street two years before. Ken, Izzy, Joe and Mimi all gone, time had caught them eventually.

The old gang of the Lyoko Warriors was the same. Odd had been the first and Aelita was the last to go.

They had all fought to rebuild the world and prevent a tragedy they knew would come. Humanity still hadn't forgotten their cities burning and believed in the illusion the digimon were responsible. The best they could do was trying to appease the people and convince them to let go of their hate.

It did not work. And they could not tell anyone the true entity that had scorched Earth's cities. If they did, even more death and fire would have been delivered.

"_In the end of the year 2002, the digimon descended upon our world and burned it."_ – that was what teachers taught in school.

"_Death to the digimon_." – some people sometimes shouted in public spaces.

All of humanity believed digimon were murderous monsters who enjoyed slaying innocents by the millions. Parents tell their children bed-time stories about digimon as evil bogeymen. Militaries all over the globe researched weapons to wipe out digimon and ways to access their world. Former enemy nations now came together to plan retribution to the digimon.

Only one human knew the truth. And that human's time was running out. He had tried to encourage people to abandon their ambitions for revenge and focusing on rebuilding the future. Launching a genocidal war against the digimon wouldn't restore their world nor bring back those lost. Many people knew that to be true. But anger and hatred rarely listened to reason.

Just thinking about that future made Cody's heart feel tight. As a matter of fact, Cody's heart did feel tight. The Emperor had a sudden difficulty in breathing and felt himself falling down as his heart failed.

Cody slipped on the ground, clenching his chest. The guards quickly grabbed him.

"Call the His Majesty's doctor, right now!" – the guard chief ordered. – "The Emperor is down!"

In a matter of few minutes, the Emperor's comatose body was in his bed, surrounded by his personal doctor and his assistants. In a matter of two hours, the all country knew their Emperor's time had finally ran out.

While all this happened, Cody's mind dove into memories long past…

_Digital World, Dark Continent, 21__st__ December 2002 AD_

A solitary DemiDevimon flew in the dark forest. The dark, viral rookie digimon considered this place their home. It was here where they hid from the stronger dark digimon that inhabited the Dark Continent. In these trees, the rookies grabbed any opportunity to digivolve in hopes to carve their own niche. However when you're power-hungry and small, you must limit your desires…temporarily.

DemiDevimon entered a deep, dark cave. This place would be fine to rest, for now. But as he passed the threshold of the cave, a transparent hand of solid smoke grabbed him.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" – DemiDevimon was pulled in and didn't have time to scream as XANA crushed his data and consumed him whole.

"**Finally.**" – XANA muttered. He had been devoring unaware digimon who were bold enough to enter the cave that had become his refuge. – "**This should do it. I have enough energy for this.**"

XANA was dying and there was nothing that could save him. His enslavement by Vaxdis and the attack from AncientOphanimon had broken something within him. XANA's code was breaking up and he could only stall the process by eating small digimon, for now.

But he wouldn't face oblivion without a fight. If those accursed humans would live and he would die, he'd make sure they would rather be dead.

XANA focused a small portion of the energy he had built up and part of his smoke condensed into a snail-like form with four thin, hinged legs. The Kankrelat was created as the last one of its kind. Even weaker than the average Kankrelat, but that was fine with XANA. He couldn't afford to waste power on superfluous features.

"**Now, time to begin.**" – XANA teleported the Kankrelat to other part of the Digital World.

_Digital World, Server Continent…_

Said Kankrelat reappeared in the deserts of Server Continent. The monster was standing right in front of an abandoned TV set. One of the many portals to the real world that the Digidestined used.

It fired up its laser and destroyed the screen. Now it could no longer be used to travel between realms. XANA teleported the Kankrelat to the next locating where it would destroy the next portal.

_Paris, Kadic Academy, Nighttime…_

Jeremie, the Night-Walker, was typing in his computer, trying to track down XANA in the Digital World. His routine was cut short for a familiar alarm beeped. One he hadn't heard in a long time.

"XANA!" – the alarm showed an activated spire. Jeremie went for his phone but he, his bed, the computer, the desks and everything began to tremble. An earthquake, which woke up nearly half the school. But there was no need for panic. It stopped as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had begun.

"That was…" – another alarm beeped and the red glowing monolith disappeared form the screen. XANA had deactivated his newly activated tower. – "What are you up to now, XANA?"

Next day…

"_The earthquakes you felt were cause by XANA. There's no doubt._" – Hopper was reporting to the Lyoko Warriors while Gennai did the same for the original Digidestined.

The Lyoko Warriors were all in Jeremie's room with their digimon. Though Jeremie had interacted with digimon many times under XANA's control, he once in a while gave them a sideways glance. Jeremie had made his life to understand things. When he comes across something he can't understand, that confounds him, it makes him nervous. And digimon were creatures that confounded him very much.

"_But Paris and Tokyo weren't the only places."_ – Hopper sighed. – "_Several major cities around the world experienced the same sudden and short earthquakes. XANA activated a tower and then de-activated almost instantaneously._"

"So XANA has been trying to cause earthquakes all over the globe, but gave up before it could do any damage?" – Aelita quirked an eyebrow. It made no logical sense.

"Maybe XANA is losing it." – Labramon suggested.

"_I think…the earthquakes were just a side effect of XANA's real objective._"

Hopper's words were hesitant but nothing else could make sense. Unless XANA was really losing it.

"And what might that objective be?" – Lunamon asked the question in everyone's minds.

"_No idea. XANA shut down the spire before we could hack into it. Whatever he was doing, it could have worked perfectly or it may also have been a complete failure._"

"_But not all are bad news. We made a better analysis and this failed attack proves our expectations: XANA is dying."_

Everyone in the room immediately perked up. Even Jeremie (despite showing more surprise than joy) smiled in triumph.

"We're done. We finally did it!" – Aelita said, hugging Jeremie and Lunamon.

"_Almost, Aelita. Almost."_ – Hopper said calmly. He too was relieved to see his greatest mistake finally been undone. But it wasn't over just yet. He gave them another few seconds to rejoice before going back to serious business. – "_With Lyaku gone, XANA can no longer hide his presence. This attempted attack gave away his location."_

"So we're going there and give him a lesson! Digi style! Right Ulrich?" – Gaomon bumped his gloved fist with Ulrich's.

"Count us in!" – Odd added.

"_Don't get over your heads, children. XANA's new refuge may be wide open, but it's no less dangerous. He's in the Dark Continent._"

"Oh, goody!" – Tsukaimon made his trademark roll of eyes. The other digimon showed signs of disappointment or wariness. – "It had to be the Dark Continent."

"Why do I get the feeling this 'Dark Continent' isn't the next best thing to Hawaii?" – Yumi muttered.

"Because the Dark Continent is where digimon with bad reputation dwell. Virtually all of them virus types, the 'bad' virus types." – Renardmon said, giving a look at Tsukaimon when she mentioned the 'bad'. While virus-type digimon tended to be evil and more affiliated with darkness, not all were like that. – "The Dark Continent is split in areas ruled by powerful digimon Lords. None of them is very friendly to outside digimon, let alone humans."

"_Fortunately, things aren't as grim as that. While our intel on the 'provinces' of the Dark Continent is not very accurate, we know that XANA has fixated himself on a unclaimed area."_

"So what are we waiting for?" – Odd stood up, bringing his D-3 out. – "I call dibs on saying 'Digi-port open'!"

"_Actually Odd, there are no portals close to XANA's area. And appearing in the digimon Lords' domains would be risky. So you'll use the scanners." _– Hopper corrected.

"Aw, man!" – the blond groaned.

The Lyoko Warriors made their way to the factory by the sewers. The small digimon went concealed by their partners. Renardmon and Gaomon had to be stealthy crossing the campus to the manhole.

"You guys can go. I'll stay here with Jeremie." – Aelita said in a tone that didn't suggest they could convince her otherwise. Since they had gotten Jeremie back, Aelita hadn't lost sight of him. As if XANA could jump out of every shadow and possess him again. Lunamon remained behind too. Jeremie prepared to send the other four and their partners in. He gave the pinkette a sideways look:

"Say Aelita, do you…"

"No." – she replied without hesitation.

"But I was just…" – Jeremie persisted.

"No."

"But I can…"

"Jeremie, I said 'no'. I already told you, you are NOT gonna dismantle my D3 and that's final."

_In the Dark Continent…_

"Must be the housekeeper's day off." – Odd commented, his giant shurikan in hand. He, Ulrich, Labramon and Gaomon went ahead scouting, while the other stood guarding the way out. Jeremie had made a quick scan of the cave. No XANA activity found.

The cave was dark, but Ulrich used their fire to illuminate the way. No signs of anything that used to live were present.

"All clear, Einstein." – Odd spoke in silent, emotionless tone.

"_You don't have to sound like a spy, Odd_." – Jeremie retorted. – "_But you're right, XANA isn't here. He must have known we were coming._"

"Hey, guys! Look what I just found." – Gaomon called out. He was standing in front of a meter-tall pedestal with a CD.

"What is that?" – Odd moved in but Ulrich stopped him.

"Watch it, Odd. It could be booby-trapped."

"_What did you found?"_

"It's a CD on a pedestal. Nothing more."

"_I'll make a scan to make sure it's safe. If it turns out clean, there shouldn't be a problem taking it._"

"_Shouldn't_ be?" – Odd questioned.

"_XANA is a master of deception. He _could_ have a very well hidden virus in that CD that the scan could not spot._" – as Jeremie typed to do his scan, Odd and Ulrich, Labramon and Gaomon argued who would take the CD.

"I can't take it. My paws have no thumbs." – Labramon said in a haste.

"I suppose I could try." – Gaomon's tone said he wasn't too eager about it.

"Rock, paper, scissor?" – Odd suggested. Ulrich hummed and then smirked:

"I got a better idea: let's get Tsukaimon to do it." – the other three returned his smirk.

It turned out there was no trap whatsoever. Ulrich used his Supersprint to ran past the pedestal and grab the CD. Nothing happened as Jeremie had expected.

"_That CD may still spit something bad if we play it. I'm gonna need an isolated computer to play that CD without risking infecting the supercomputer._"

"How long will that take?" – Yumi asked.

"_Gennai just called. He says he has something we all need to hear at his castle. I told him what we found and he offered to do it for us. He'll have an isolated computer there."_

_Later, in the Castle…_

"This morning we got an unexpected alert." – Gennai relayed to them. Though he had the computer ready for the found CD, Gennai claimed there was something more important to discuss first. The digidestined in Japan were also attending the last hour meeting from Yolei's computer. – "As you know, the digi-port can open a vortex from any computer on Earth to any portal terminal here on the Digital World, and vice-versa."

"Yes, that's all old news. The terminals just happen to be TV sets spread throughout every corner of this world." – Renardmon said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which actually was.

"_Yes, they are. And they're always ignored by the digimon, in general._" – Cody added from their end.

"But this morning we noticed that the numbers of portal in the digital has been drastically decreasing over the last night, one by one." – Gennai revealed. – "Handiwork of XANA."

Gennai showed them a display of a Kankrelat appearing like being virtualized. It destroyed a TV set portal and disappeared.

"_So XANA isn't as dead as we thought._" – Gatomon muttered.

"Indeed. He created a single Kankrelat and has been warping it from portal to portal."

"But why? What does XANA gains from this?" – Ulrich asked. – "He knows he's dying, so it's game over."

"_Maybe he's planning something to save himself. So he's cutting our access to the Digital World to buy time._" – Kari suggested. Gennai, however, remained thoughtful without giving any ideas.

"Something on your mind, G?" – Labramon questioned. The digital man gazed upon the Lyoko Warriors:

"You remember the prophecy that gathered you with your partners, don't you?" – he asked the physically present group. A soft sound of Jeremie's grunting was heard, though Gennai paid it no heed. – "The MoonMilleniummon prophet made another one just last night."

"_There will be more digidestined?_" – Kari asked in a hopeful tone. Gennai sighed:

"No. This prophecy isn't one of salvation. It's one we should do everything we can to prevent from happening."

Without further explanation, he took a cube from his pocket. It looked just like the cube which had the previous prophecy recorded. Once again, the holographic image of MoonMilleniummon came out of it and began ranting in its silent voice:

"_By the hand of the Chosen, the New Enemy will perish_

_But unguarded will be the world they cherish_

_Hope and Light are no longer the key_

_For the impending doom can stop not be_

_While one dark night will be over_

_A new darker one will the sun cover_

_Through mistake and error will set afire_

_A cruel fate…and the sky rains fire _

_So comes the end of the Digidestined Age_

_A world will be sowed with hatred and rage."_

"Impending doom, Sun blocked out, sky raining fire." – Odd recited. – "All doom and gloom stuff. What's this, an Apocalypse prophecy?"

"Yes." – Gennai said plainly. – "I'm afraid this doom prophecy is one we must avert."

"How? If it's a prophecy…" – Renardmon sighed.

"No prophecy can happen unless people pull some strings. If we hadn't showed you the Door, the previous prophecy would never have come to past." – Gennai argued. – "Problem is, we don't know how this will happen and how much XANA will be involved. This attack on the terminals may have nothing to do with it."

"_Maybe we should now play XANA's note._" – Jeremie suggested. His voice sounded a bit forced.

Gennai inserted the CD in the proper computer and played it. It turned out to be an audio file, a recording of XANA's voice:

"_**Hello, my hateful enemies. If you are listening to this message it is because I am dying and you're all very happy about it. But don't worry, 'cause I don't plan on leaving without saying my goodbyes in an memorable fashion. It's gonna be real blast.**_"

"I hate when he says 'it's gonna be a blast'." – Odd groaned. – "It always means 'here comes the pain'."

"_**I know of the new prophecy and I intend to be the one to make it happen. That is my legacy to you maggots for having ruined my plans.**_"

"_**Ever since I arrived on this world, I discovered I could do things that would be impossible on Lyoko. So I created weapons to make short work of you, in case it came to this. In fact, when this record ends, it will give the green light to make a test run on File Island.**_"

"_**Oh, and BTW, I wasn't using a metaphor when I said it was gonna be a blast. It **_**will **_**be a 'blast', a nuclear one at that. Sayonara!**_"

It was as if had been rehearsed. Once the recording ended, red lights and alarms flashed. Isac, one of Gennai's associates, came barging in the room:

"Gennai! There something spiking in the sky above File Island!"

Gennai immediately turned on the monitor and revealed a vortex of green light with lighting forming above the island. The Japanese digidestined were getting the same video from their end:

"_What is that?"_ – Yolei sounded mystified. The light held a terrifying beauty.

"_There something falling out_." – Patamon pointed out. And indeed a small cylindrical object fell from the vortex which closed right after.

"Scanning…" – Gennai waited for the results of sensors. – "It must be some kind of…"

The computer beeped indicating the scan was complete. Gennai read the digimon symbols and his eyes went wide slowly. A look of disbelief crossed his face.

"What is it, Gennai?" – Yumi asked.

"By the Sovereigns…" – was all he answered before the unknown object flashed a white light and the monitor went dead.

_On File Island…_

At that right moment, the incoming object was just a few dozens of feet form plummeting into the ground. But it never came to touch the soil for the 9000 kiloton nuke went off.

If Digimon in the far away sea were to be at the surface and looked at the island, a rapid white light would blind them. And when their sight came back, all they would see was a giant mushroom cloud rising from where File Island used to be.

On that day, many digi-egg landed on Primary Village. A lot many more than usual.

_12 Hours later…_

Davis on ExVeemon and Ken on Stingmon over flew the blackened cinder which was once File Island. It wasn't even an island anymore, only a few strands of lifeless land surrounding a circular center of water where ground zero happened.

There were no words to describe it, the four watched in silence. Ironically, the digimon were more stunned than the humans. Sure Ken and Davis had never seen fresh damage of a weapon of mass destruction, but they had heard in school about the horrors of these destroyers of cities.

The digimon, who had no nations, no nuclear science and no modern warfare, were beyond description. Sure the Dark Masters, Apocalymon or VenoMyotismon could destroy an entire island, but the power they would expend would be large. XANA did it with a simple, harmless-looking metal pod. And according to their human friends, there's the chance there'll be more. Stingmon made his descend to check for any survivors, but Ken stopped him:

"Wait, if we go down there, we might die!"

"But, Ken…" – the digimon may be horrified, but he wanted to help. Ken could sense it in his partner's voice.

"Stingmon, listen to me!" – Ken urged. – "That place is poisoned now. We can't land for weeks, months or even hundreds of years. And even if anyone survived, there's no chance they'll live much longer."

"Davis." – ExVeemon turned to his partner. Davis had been having a headache ever since he saw the nuclear blast. – "You ok?"

Davis winced and grasped his hair before the world changed in a flash before his very eyes.

_Flashback:_

_Davis-no, not Davis-Vaxdis entered the warehouse. The inside was about 20 meters tall and over a kilometer wide._

_ "What's this?" – what called Vaxdis' attention the most were the missile-like objects. They were all lined up like soldiers waiting to march. – "XANA, what have you been playing at?"_

_End of flashback._

"XANA has more!" – he shouted, the memory causing his heart to race. – "A ton more!"

"Davis…" – Ken sighed worriedly. – "Let's get out of here. Submarimon and Ikkakumon must be done on the evacuation of marine digimon, by now."

_Later, back at Yolei's…_

"I remember now. When I was…Vaxdis," – Davis said, gulping.

"Davis, you were never Vaxdis." – Kari said calmly. Davis gave her an neutral look before continuing:

"I…_he_ saw a warehouse outside Lyaku. If was loaded with missiles. Dozens of them."

"_Then our greatest fear is confirmed. This is merely a show of strength. XANA has more of those nukes._" – Gennai sighed.

"So this is what the prophecy meant. We manage to beat XANA, but he'll make 'the sky rain fire'. He's gonna use those nukes to wipe out the Digital World." – TK said in cold aggravation.

"And he's destroying the terminal, one by one, so we can't go there. He's isolating the Digital World." – Cody concluded.

"But he doesn't know we can open a digital gate to Gennai's castle. And he can't send his bug there." – Yolei argued.

"_So we still have hope to stop XANA_. _The fact that he opened a crude vortex makes me believe he's between worlds, right in the middle of ours and yours. Where we can't reach him." _– Gennai said. – "_We did a little more digging and have calculated how much time XANA has left. Just about 10 days_."

"Ten days…then XANA will die in New Year's Eve." – TK resumed.

"But in that time he can still blow up the digital world." – Davis stood up. – "We gotta do something!"

"And we will. The prophecy said hope and light are no longer the key." – TK agreed. – "I say let's prove it wrong."


	35. Ep 32 And the Sky Rained Fire

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 32: And the Sky Rained Fire**

**I always thought the digimon saw humans as weak creatures, since they're small and have no powers. Even the good, non-partnered digimon, at an subconsciously level, looked down upon humans. And they need to learn the essence of mankind.**

**And with the use of nukes in the last episode, I whipped this up. TK quotes both USA president Truman and Japanese Admiral Soemu Toyoda.**

**Jeremie was always the thinker who believes in fact before beliefs. Been enslaved by an AI and having fought digimon during that time, he's naturally hostile towards any kind of living data. **

**One important note: nukes can be detonated as an ****air-burst**** or ****ground-burst****. **

**A ****ground-burst****, which happened on File Island, is when the nuke explodes so that the fireball touches the ground. In this explosion, the target is vaporized by the energy of the blast. Also, because the radiation was expelled with solid matter all around, there's radiation fallout and the area can't be habitable until the radioactive isotopes decay.**

**An ****air-burst****, is when the nuke explodes in mid-air without having the fireball touching the ground.** ** Usually several hundred to a few thousand feet (100 to 1000m) above the hypocenter. In this case, the destruction is bigger because the blast isn't semi-absorbed by the ground. The target isn't incinerated, but rather crushed by the massive shockwave. It also minimizes fallout by keeping the fireball from touching the ground. That way, you can walk freely in the ground zero of a airburst right after the blast without risk of radiation.**

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2090 AD/ 88 PC_

Crown Prince Masaru Hida of Japan walked to the Emperor's chambers in a tense but hurried step. Outside was the royal court with crestfallen faces. The door opened and the Emperor's doctor exited:

"I have just come from Tennō Heika's bed." – he spoke solemnly. – "The Emperor's time has come. There is nothing I can do. We can only stall for time."

"Can I see him?" – Masaru questioned.

"Yes, Prince Masaru. But quickly." – the doctor bowed. Masaru Hida was the Emperor's only child and the Empress had passed away a few years previous. He was in his mid-fifties; Cody had only become a father in his own fifties.

Masaru walked calmly into the room, as if not trying to wake up a sleeping baby. Emperor Cody Hida slept in the royal bed, his dying mind dreaming of old memories.

_Primary Village, 22__nd__ December 2002…_

**B Minus 9 Days**

"Thanks for the help, TK and Angemon." – Elecmon sighed in exhaustion. After the destruction of File Island, hundreds of digi-eggs rained upon the village. TK and Angemon helped transport many of those eggs to nearby villages who sworn to raise the digimon when they hatched. All this to relieve Elecmon of a load of work in the next few days.

"You're welcome, old friend." – the angel returned.

"The other villages were going ballistic when they heard what happened to File Island. Many thought the Dark Masters were back and other didn't buy it until they saw what's left of it. Even I didn't believe it at first." – Elecmon shuddered at the memory when Angemon showed him the remains of the dead island. – "Is it true we can't go there?"

"Afraid so." – TK said solemnly. – "Gennai says the radioactive poison won't fade away in 30 years."

The Digidestined had decided on alerting the digimon about the imminent danger. Many didn't believe but news of the demise of File Island had spread rather quickly. Fortunately, with the help of the digimon allies, panic was avoided in a general matter.

It was agreed that digidestined and digimon all over the world would help in the digging of underground bunkers for entire villages and cities. Many wanted dibs on the first bunker and attempted to hire as many digging digimon as possible. The Sovereigns agreed the one to receive the best of help and resources to have its bunker dag was Primary Village.

Cody and Digmon were working with dozens of Drimogemon to finish the temporary shelter of Primary Village. Now it was time to transport the eggs there. Ulrich and Gaogamon would soon return with Tai, Greymon and Leomon, who volunteered to help bringing the eggs to the bunker.

"I'm just upset that the babies meant to hatch in the next days will be in a cave." – Elecmon sighed.

"Better inside a dark, gloomy cave than under thousands of kilotons of nuclear power." – TK countered. Angemon had flown to signal the coming team so TK and Elecmon were left alone. When Elecmon talked again, he did in an awkward tone:

"TK, is it true that humans throw these bombs at each other?"

TK looked at his friend before answering. There were mixed feelings in the little guy's face. Curiosity, doubt, even fear.

"It's hard to explain." – TK sighed. – "You ever been to my world?"

"No."

"Then you never saw Hiroshima or Nagasaki. I have on a field trip. Made me realize a few things." – TK spoke solemnly. – "Good thing about war is that advances technology and makes people stronger. Bad thing about war is that the technologies are destructive and people become hostile."

"During the last days of our second world war, the UK, USA and China gave my country an ultimatum: surrender or face 'prompt and utter destruction'. The government ignored it."

TK made a pause and sighed. Elecmon didn't understood many of the concepts he talked about: world war, UK, USA, China… He had never known much beyond Primary Village, let alone the human world. But he could see it weren't those details that mattered.

"And so the USA launched a bomb like the one that struck File Island, thought a weaker one. It hit a city called Hiroshima. It was a nightmare." – TK took another solemn pause – "Buildings and houses wiped out, people burnt or poisoned to death, firestorm spreading. The survivors actually envied the dead. Over 90 000 died."

"Oh, sorry." – Elecmon said, ears dropping. – "I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok. These things happen. Better to understand them now than to forget and repeat the mistake." – TK looked straight into Elecmon with a penetrating gaze. – "How many lives is worth to keep fighting?"

"Uh…" – he scratched his head. – "I don't know…a lot?"

"Yeah, a lot. Even after seeing the devastation of Hiroshima, our military didn't give up. They said 'there would be more destruction but the war would go on'. They were wrong; the war practically ended in the next bombing. Nagasaki was blown too and even more thousands died."

"I saw the memorial of Nagasaki's ground zero. It has the names of many people who survived that."

A long pause followed, one Elecmon felt he shouldn't interrupt. But the silence and anxiousness began to pile up. And if the others got there, it would be too awkward for him to ask the question:

"TK…have you ever talked this to anyone?"

"To my mom and friends when I was taught. And to Patamon, too. I don't usually talk about this. It's not every day I see nuke going off."

_Supercomputer lab, 23__rd__ December 2002…_

**B Minus 8 Days**

"_A matter of 'copy & paste', so to speak_." – Hopper explained on the screen. It was late night and Jeremie was talking to Franz about the idea of XANA possessing a whole pile stock of nukes. – "_The Digital World and Lyoko are digital planes. To create something, one just needs to write the codes. My theory is, XANA didn't built that nuke, but rather programmed it. If he has more, he must have copied the code of the original one._"

"I figured as much. The resources to building just one would take millions of euros. No materials for a project like that were stolen, according to the news." – Jeremie sighed.

"_Jeremie, Gennai and I have written a program that could delay XANA's activity. After seeing how easily he opened a vortex and sent that bomb, we figured out a way to gain some time."_

"_After reviewing the analysis, I noticed it takes about 30 minutes to open these portals by XANA's end. If this program works, next time XANA tries to open a vortex the children will get the alert on the D-3s about 30 minutes before he gets the chance to drop a bomb."_

"Ok, so what do you need me to do?"

"_We have activated several control spires throughout the Digital World to keep the program running on full speed. But it could help if we synchronized it with some towers on Lyoko."_

It only took Jeremie a few minutes to activate the necessary towers. With them working alongside the towers in the Digital World, the program could work without XANA trying to corrupt it. Before Hopper turned off, Jeremie asked a question that had been bugging him:

"Franz, why are we pushing ourselves to so much danger because of one virtual world? Even if XANA destroys it, we can rebuild it. All data can be reconfigured."

"_It's not that simple, Jeremie."_ – he said emotionlessly and bid the boy a good evening.

"This is not how I had envisioned spending Christmas." – Jeremie muttered later when he took his leave.

Though Kadic was closed, he had invited Aelita to stay in his home. But she insisted on spending Christmas in the Digital World with Lunamon and her dad. Gennai had offered his old house for the three.

"I wonder if she turned me down because of what I said about her…Lunamon." – Jeremie whispered the digimon's name with a scowl.

_Flashback:_

_"Jeremie, bring us in." – Aelita was in the Digital World along with Lunamon and Jeremie materialized them both. However, when the scanner opened, Lunamon was lying unconscious._

_ "Lunamon!" – Aelita took her partner in her hands. – "She's exhausted."_

_ "Did it broke?" – Jeremie asked nonchalantly referring to Lunamon as an '_it_'. Aelita gave him a rare scathing look._

_ "Jeremie, we've been through this. Digimon are not things."_

_ "Well, they're data so that sums it up."_

_ "So just because they're data means they're no alive? XANA is a program, but he's very much alive."_

_ "Exactly, Aelita." – Jeremie frowned. – "XANA is data and we know how dangerous he can be. After spending months under his control, and fighting digimon all that time, I came to a conclusion: any kind of living data is bad news."_

_ "Jeremie," – Aelita relaxed a bit. – "I can only imagine what you went through, but this isn't how you used to approach things. You're acting…"_

_ "On the contrary, not only I don't trust digimon, I'm also suspicious of this all thing. Virtual realities are one thing, artificial intelligence is another. But prophecies and powers coming from emotions…This fantasy is but a charade arranged by XANA. And so is that freak of nature." – his words were cold, but not angry. _

"_Jeremie!"_

"_Until I have proof of the contrary, I don't want you to stay close to that thing!"_

"_No." – her refusal was short, but nonetheless, determined. Nothing he said could convince her otherwise. Things finally culminated when she burst:_

"_Jeremie, I'm not the naïve little girl you pulled out of Lyoko. I make my own decisions! And if you let your anger towards XANA blind you, than we have less in common than I thought!"_

_After a few silent seconds she asked/demanded him to send her back to the Digital World. She was only supposed to go celebrate Christmas with her father on 24__th__ but she wanted then. Jeremie virtualized her in Gennai's old house and went home._

_End of Flashback._

"This is definitely not how I had envisioned spending Christmas." – he muttered again.

_Supercomputer Lab, 26__th__ December 2002…_

**B Minus 6 Days**

Jeremie was typing on his computer, working the state of XANA's work. Up until now, nada. Up until now, the program hadn't spotted any portal opening. This kept slowly fueling Jeremie paranoia.

Time passed and he got a message. A video message from Aelita. Jeremie jumped at the chance:

"_Jeremie…how are you? How was your Christmas?"_

"Fine..." – he said awkwardly. She spoke finally breaking the awkward silence:

"_Jeremie, I know you want to protect me. But you should give the digimon a chance. They're not like XANA."_

"How do you know?"

"_Because I know Lunamon. She's more than data and more than just a pet."_

"How can you be so sure she won't try to possess you or something?" – he persisted skeptically.

"_Jeremie…you'll probably never understand this, but if you ask any of the others, they'll tell you the same. Lunamon is a partner for life and I know I can always count on her. I think it's a digidestined thing."_

"_You have asked me many times to trust you and I did. Now I'm asking you to trust me."_

Jeremie nodded, not so much convinced, but ready to give the benefit of the doubt. A beeping alarm pulled him out of his thoughts. A window popped up with said alarm. Aelita had the same alert on her D-3.

"XANA is on the move!" – the program that Gennai and Hopper had wrote was doing its job.

"_And it looks like the target is…ShogunGekomon's town."_

_Later…_

The old Japanese-styled town was empty. The inhabitant digimon had been moved to their bunker the day previous, fortunately. The underground shelter was deep enough to withstand a nuclear blast. But if that nuke exploded to close to the ground, it would be another place to be left dead for years.

Aelita, Kari, Cody, TK and their partners were the only ones at the castle. The others had chores to do or couldn't get away from their families. The whole town was empty and the surrounding areas had been evacuated. The team waited with growing apprehension, looking at the screen display.

"Here it comes." – TK gulped.

It was as if the sky was ripped apart. Again the same green light and spark. But this time, the vortex didn't fully form. Instead, the blue of the sky tried to cover the vortex:

"Something's wrong." – Gennai quirked an eyebrow. It was as if the sky was fighting the vortex trying to mend the injury. The lightning increased as the vortex grew more and more unstable. – "The vortex is collapsing on itself."

In a flash of white light, the vortex ceased to be. Nothing had passed through and the town remained silent but intact.

"Did we win?" – Armadillomon asked.

"Did your program do that?" – Kari asked Gennai.

"No. Our program was supposed to attack as an alarm, not a disruptor." – he kept typing, trying to find the source but nothing.

"Maybe XANA called off the whole thing." – TK suggested.

"Or maybe XANA no longer has the power to do it!" – Aelita was hopeful.

_Odaiba, Tokyo, 31__st __December 2002…_

**B Minus 1 Day**

According to Gennai, that failed attack on ShogunGekomon town could have had been XANA overextended himself.

"He is dying, after all. That _could_ have been the cause."

In spite of that, with XANA near death and New Year coming, the group was merry. It was already a celebration of victory.

31st December was the Ōmisoka, the busy day of New Year's Eve. But for the digidestined, it held an added meaning. This was XANA's final day and when the 12th stroke of midnight on Tokyo came, XANA would die. Nonetheless, a good portion of the team was still in the Digital World just in case.

Davis was heading to Chūō to go and visit Natsumi. Sora had just gotten the news her father was in the hospital on Chiyoda with a broken leg, cause by an accident. So she and Matt went to pay him a visit under the watchful eyes of Gabumon and Byomon.

Tai was heading back home through an opened park. Mrs. Kamiya was cleaning the house and needed help preparing the New Year's supper. The Digidestined of Courage walked home slowly, mumbling in his head about recent events. Until his D-terminal beeped, though it wasn't any of his friends. It was XANA's insignia displayed:

"**Hello, Taichi-maichi! I was just going for a walk, deciding where to spend my last few hours, when I sensed your smell. So how's it hanging, Binky-boy?**"

"Much better now that you're about to bite the dust."

"**Ah, you flatter me.**" – XANA sounded like he wasn't about to meet his end at all. Though his tone had no joy nor triumph, he wasn't frustrated. – "**Hope you don't miss me, though. I'll leave you guys many presents to remember me.**"

"Yeah, you've left a good legacy alright." – Tai groaned. – "Willis and all the others. And now you joined File Island to the list."

"**Oh, that? That's not what I was talking about.**" – XANA paused. – "**Tell me, you really think preventing a prophecy from happening is this easy? In the end, I may have lost but you lost even more. My Kankrelat has already destroyed every portal terminal in the Digital World. You kids are cut off from the world you're trying to protect. **"

"I don't think so. Gennai's castle had its own terminal. Too bad you couldn't touch it, hu!"

"**Does **_**that**_** make a difference?**" – XANA asked skeptically. – "**You know what? Before we go any further with this lovely chat, there's something else I have to say. To all of humanity, in fact. And I want you to be the first one to hear it.**"

In a matter of seconds, XANA sent his recorded message to every telecommunication device worldwide. Tai's D-terminal just received it one second sooner than everyone else.

_Times Square, New York…_

Billboards in the commercial area of the metropolis darkened, showing only XANA's insignia. The same happened to any working TV set and any device connected to the internet.

"**Citizens of the human hive,**" – XANA's voice was dull, like addressing an inferior creature. – "**your leaders have withheld the truth. You are not alone in the Universe**."

_Shanghai, China…_

"**We are the digimon and we have lived hidden from you. But always watching you quietly.**"

The people had stopped on their chores and activities just listen the unexpected warning with eerie attention.

_Paris, France…_

"**Many of your nations know us from the incursions you suffered a few years ago. We despise your species beyond description.**"

"XANA!" – Jeremie was in the supercomputer lab when he received the message. – "What are you up to, now?"

_London, United Kingdom…_

"**Your savagery is what vexes us most. You claim to be united and working together for any objective, when nations are actually conspiring against each other. Individuals say they trust each when they're ready to be at each other's throats for money or power.**"

"**Your existence is intolerable and for that you must pay. We, the digimon, will make sure of that.**"

_Back with Tai_…

"What have you done?" – Tai asked irate.

"**I just added a pinch of salt to the New Year's eve.**" – XANA replied feigning innocence.

"Causing mass hysteria throughout the world? That's your last revenge? Just because your little doom prophecy was realized?"

"**What makes you think the prophecy won't happen, Tai?**"

"Face it, the Digital World is safe. You couldn't even nuke ShogunGekomon's town."

"**What makes you think I was going to nuke it in the first place? That was only a decoy**" – to Tai's quirked eyebrow, XANA carried on. – "**You see, Tai, the prophecy is still on because there are still ideal conditions for it to happen.**"

"The prophecy said 'unguarded will be the world we cherish'. The Digital World is as protected as it can be." – Tai argued. However, a fragment on the back of his mind started to whisper that something was terribly wrong.

"**Yeah I would say the Digimon are quite safe in those ingenuous bunkers you made so hastily. However, the prophecy also said 'for the impending doom can stop not be' and** **'through mistake and error will set afire'. By trying to prevent the prophecy you heroes actually helped fulfill it. After all, there's **_**one**_** world you guys left unprotected, through you own mistake and error.**"

Tai was about to protest when his subconscious put two and two together and alerted his brain. It felt like a spark of electricity coursed through his nerves. A sudden realization, one he mentally refused to accept as possible, but his brain persisted it was logical.

"No." – he whispered. It couldn't be possible.

"**Yes.**" – XANA sounded truly delighted for the first time. – "**I think I'll set myself on Fuji's TV station and enjoy the show. My gift to this world should be lighting up the sky very soon. BTW Tai, can you spell 'nuclear holocaust'?**"

"No!" – Tai took off running, shoving a handful of people on his way. His brain was bursting with disorganized thoughts of disbelief versus terror. He stopped on his tracks when he saw everyone around him looking up.

The sky over the center of Tokyo was tore-opened and a green vortex formed over the metropolis. Matt and Sora, who happened to be directly beneath the vortex looked up with a sense of dread. None uttered a word though.

All over the Earth, many other vortexes were opened over the capitals of nations and other majorly populated cities.

"No." – was all that Tai could say before barely visible object was tossed from the vortex and a bright flash of light temporarily blinded him. The nuke went off…

…And the sky rained fire.


	36. Ep 33 The Great Burn

**Code: Digimon Season 3**

**Episode 33: The Great Burn**

**One important note: nukes can be detonated as an ****air-burst**** or ****ground-burst****. **

**A ****ground-burst****, which happened on File Island, is when the nuke explodes so that the fireball touches the ground. In this explosion, the target is vaporized by the energy of the blast. Also, because the radiation was expelled with solid matter all around, there's radiation fallout and the area can't be habitable until the radioactive isotopes decay.**

**An ****air-burst****, is when the nuke explodes in mid-air without having the fireball touching the ground.** ** Usually several hundred to a few thousand feet (100 to 1000m) above the hypocenter. In this case, the destruction is bigger because the blast isn't semi-absorbed by the ground. The target isn't incinerated, but rather crushed by the massive shockwave. It also minimizes fallout by keeping the fireball from touching the ground. That way, you can walk freely in the ground zero of an airburst right after the blast without risk of radiation.**

**Final note: every targeted city is on the report in the middle of the chapter. The details and scenarios were based on the NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein.**

_Chūō, Tokyo, 31__st__ December 2002…_

**B Minus 1 Day**

It was pandemonium, total chaos. All that Veemon remembered was standing at the Hamarikyu park, attempting to go visit Natsumi. And then the sky lightened up, like a ball of light. It felt like the seconds turned into minutes.

Sensing the danger, Veemon quickly digivolved into ExVeemon and he grabbed Davis. The two flew like never before, trying to escape the incoming heat wave.

"It's gaining on us." – this is what Davis tried to say, but ExVeemon couldn't hear him over the ringing in his ears. Even Davis couldn't hear himself. The sound of the nuke going off made it impossible.

They were about to reach Odaiba but it was too late. The heat wave would catch them and so ExVeemon wrapped himself around Davis. The human was completely involved by the Champion, but said digimon was completely exposed to the heat.

ExVeemon's skin burnt like never before. The two crash-landed on West Promenade. Fortunately, Odaiba had been spared from any destruction, expect for a minor shockwave. People were fleeing to West, trying to witness the horror that happened to the center of their city.

"Veemon…" – Davis coughed, trying to get up. Nobody paid him any heed with the current crisis. – "Veemon!"

There he was, now as Chibomon, shivering on the ground. More than half the digimon's body had 3rd degree burns.

"Chibomon!" – Davis hugged the little digimon, but he winced when Davis touched his wounds. – "You're gonna be ok, buddy."

There was a sound like glass breaking and Chibomon broke apart into data. Davis watched with tearful eyes as his partner floated away.

_Paris, France…_

"What the?!" – Jeremie shouted. The supercomputer just went offline after an instantaneous earthquake. – "What's wrong with you now!"

He tried to go to the elevator to reach the supercomputer level. But the elevator didn't work.

"What's gotten into this!"

Another earthquake, quick but more powerful than the previous. The ceiling collapsed and rubble fell on top of Jeremie. The boy was knocked out cold under the debris.

_Tokyo, Kamiya apartment…_

Tai ran as fast as his legs could endure. Even though his skin was starting to show signs of 1st degree burn. The building was deserted, the people had vacated it in panic.

"Mom!" – Tai burst through the door and there was Mrs. Kamiya lying on the ground. The glass and porcelain of the house was shattered, broken by the shockwave. Tai checked her and sensed a pulse. He grabbed his mom by the shoulder and began carrying her away.

He heard a continuous sound, like a hiss. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the source of the sound: the gas cylinder had a leakage. And close by it was a burning towel.

"Oh, no!" – Tai carried his mom out of there as fast as possible. When they crossed the apartment door…

BOOOM!

The air exploded and the floor beneath Tai's feet collapsed. The two fell on the lower level. During the fall, a sharp piece of debris cut the flesh from his left ear to the top of the left side of his forehead. He would keep that scar for the rest of his life. The adrenaline kept him from feeling much pain. Fortunately the ceiling hadn't collapsed on top of them. Tai made his slow but steady way out with his mom.

Outside, the sky was dark and choked by the smoke of the localized fires. Trucks, cars and containers of volatile liquids were bursting in flames. People were rushing to loved ones, safe houses or any place that seemed sheltered. Only one nuke had been dropped on Tokyo but mass hysteria and terror drove them into believing more were coming.

"Come on, mom! Almost there." – Tai dragged himself and his parent to the nearest medical center. If this wasn't already filled with wounded.

_Gennai's castle…_

"Children, something has happened." – Gennai's voice was tense. – "Suddenly I lost contact with Tokyo and Paris."

"_You think it might be XANA?"_ – Yumi asked. The Lyoko Warriors and junior Digidestined minus Jeremie and Davis were all patrolling through different corners of the Digital World.

"I don't know. Strange though, I can't detect any active electronic device on either city. It's like both just went dark." – Gennai kept typing. – "The supercomputer also went offline. I can't contact any D-terminal on Earth."

"_Couldn't be a power down. Maybe some electromagnetic phenomenon_." – Aelita suggested. – "_I can try to reactivate the supercomputer from here."_

"Wait, it's coming back." – Gennai said. Second by second, he noticed something was wrong. The telecommunications in Tokyo and Paris were either dead or sending panicked messages. The same was truth to many other cities around the globe.

"Children, I'm getting a strange report here. The scanners say that XANA has opened multiple vortexes all around Earth. Every vortexes seems have been…directly under every nation's capital." – Gennai said that last part in suspense.

"_Gennai, what wrong?"_ – that was TK.

"This can't be right." – the digital man said that more to himself. At last, he could get a fix on Tokyo via satellite. The image, despite been corrupted with static, confirmed his fears. More and more satellite images came of other cities. Paris, New York, Washington D.C., Berlin, London, Madrid, Istanbul, Rome, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Jerusalem, Mumbai, Moscow, Baghdad, Dhaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Karachi, Cairo, Canberra …

"Children I think you should come here ASAP."

"_Gennai, what is it?"_ – Ulrich said. Gennai hesitated but gave in:

"We were wrong. XANA's target wasn't the Digital World. Those nukes were meant for _your_ world." – Gennai tried to say that as delicately as possible but the outcome was the same. After the initial shock-silence the children barraged him with questions and panicked demands to return home. Gennai had to raise his voice to calm everyone down.

There were no terminals around them; XANA's Kankrelat had made sure of that. They were all returning full speed to the castle where Gennai could send them to the real world.

"_What else did you learn, Gennai?"_ – William asked.

"I should tell you that personally when you get here."

"_No_." – Aelita snapped. – "_When we get there the first we'll do his go back. Whatever you have to say, say it now!"_

"From what I can tell, the blasts on Paris and Tokyo weren't close to your homes. If your families were at home and well protected, they are relatively safe." – Gennai hesitated. – "But not all are good news. I'm counting more than 200 nukes were detonated. Hundreds of kilotons each. All of them airburst. Some nukes delivered into major populated cities were in the scale of thousands of kilotons."

**(A.N.: ****Airburst**** is explained in the beginning of chapter notes.)**

"There's one more thing. The ground zero on Tokyo was in Chiyoda. Sora was there with Matt, Gabumon and Pyomon to visit her father at the hospital. When my equipment went back online, their life-signs were offline. I'm sorry."

TK kept his ears metaphorically closed to that. He would return home and find Matt wherever he was. Probably on his studio, sleeping through the whole event. His big brother wasn't dead. He just knew he wasn't. He just _couldn't_ be.

"Before the blast, Davis was in Chūō. He's alive and in Odaiba now, but…he's not moving."

When the children arrived at the castle, another problem rose. The supercomputer was still not responding. Aelita tried to re-activate through her star-bracelet:

"The supercomputer is damaged but still functional. I can materialize us from here." – Aelita did so, making sure to send a digimon in every trio. She and Lunamon were the last.

"Wow, what happened here?" – Odd looked around. The floor and walls had several cracks and a part of the ceiling seemed ready to collapse.

"I think I know. Let's go through the trap door." – Ulrich said. They were lucky to have made that call because the ceiling of the Scanner Room did collapsed.

"Close call!" – Odd whistled.

"Jeremie!" – Aelita ran towards the knocked out genius, partly visible under the rubble. She and the other dag him out but the ceiling began to collapse all over them.

_Gaomon digivolve to…Gaogamon!_

_Labramon digivolve to…Siesamon!_

"Sun's Courage!"

"Spiral Blow!" – the two quadruped champions knocked the falling debris away and took the humans away from that decaying hole. The factory was collapsing in on itself. The digimon and humans got out just in time to see it falling on its foundations, destroying the supercomputer for good.

None said anything. Though the supercomputer was the least of their worries at the time, seeing it been sealed for good was like closing a chapter on their life story. And looking at the center of Paris, smoking and burning, that feeling was only stressed even more.

"It's over." – Aelita whispered solemnly. Yumi's cell phone called and she picked it up.

"Yes? Dad, I'm okay!" – she almost screamed, relived to know her parent was safe. The other Lyoko Warriors families were never in danger, living away from Paris. – "Mom is too? What about…"

Yumi went silent digesting what her father was revealing to her on the phone. She grew paler by the second and started to shake. Suddenly she drops the phone and breaks into a run.

"Yumi!" – Renardmon called out but she ignored him. The rest of the team had been silent during the all ordeal. Aelita and Odd had Jeremie on their arms but Ulrich, William and Renardmon went after her. The digimon leaped from building to building, evading the citizens' eyes.

The people on the streets were mostly uninjured but panicking. Boulogne-Billancourt had been spared from the blast, since it occurred in the heart of Paris. However, the heat wave hit the limit of the commune.

Yumi didn't stop until she reached a hospital. Renardmon wanted to go in but in the current state of events humans might not take kindly to her presence. Ulrich and William carried on after her. Yumi ran into a specific room, almost knocking other people in her way.

She finally came to a halt at a small bed. Her parents stood beside the same bed, hugging each other and faces tainted with tears. She approached the bed with shaking steps her eyes threatening to spill tears.

There was Hiroki Ishiyama, lying on the bed with half his body burnt. The boy was not breathing and Mr. Ishiyama, who saw Yumi entering shook his head silently.

Yumi fell on her knees and hugged her little brother's lifeless body. William and Ulrich watched from the door. Aelita was right; it was over. But the price was steep nonetheless.

_1__st__ January 2003…_

**Day B**

"**The Romans had a phrase for it.**" – XANA whispered to himself. – "**What they couldn't conquer, they poisoned. If they couldn't have the land, no one else could. But I have my own phrase: what I can't conquer, I nuke.**"

He checked his timer, the final countdown for XANA's demise:

"**Only 50 seconds left for me to live. Long enough. The humans partnered with digimon were my doom. Together they make a great combination. Now…I wonder what the outcome is when they're at each other's throats.**"

Only 20 seconds, XANA could feel the last remains of his essence breaking apart:

"**But before the end comes, one last e-mail to my foes. Just the cherry on top of the cake.**"

With said e-mail sent, XANA finally passed away. The villain was no more but the human world paid the price. A victory for the Digidestined, but a pyrrhic victory nonetheless.

XANA was gone, but his legacy lived on.

_Tokyo, 1__st__ January 2003…_

"Mommy? Daddy? Where's mommy and daddy?"

"It's gone. Everything's gone. My house, my family…"

"It was as if God had turned against us and said 'DIE!'."

Those were just a few of the whispered and shouted voices he heard as he made his way through the hospital.

Izzy entered the infirmary room and there were Kari and Tai sitting by a bed where their sleeping mother rested. She had bandages around her forehead and arms but the doctors said she would be fine. Just minor concussions and 1st burns.

The 200 kiloton nuke that detonated in Tokyo unleashed a massive heat wave that would have burnt the people of Odaiba with 2nd degree burns. However, the cool and moist weather of the day helped to attenuate those effects.

Tai was also slightly scarred in his arms and neck but those were just burn marks. The real permanent scar was the deep scratch running from his left ear to the forehead.

"Hey, guys." – Izzy greeted solemnly with red eyes. This was the second time he came to see them today. – "We just got word. Sora and Matt were in Chiyoda when the nuke came. The place was completely wiped out. There was no chance…" – he felt incapable to continue. The siblings just nodded; they had done a great share of crying already. They felt incapable of crying more now.

Moments passed as the tree watched the woman sleeping. Mr. Kamiya was out of town and was returning hysterically when he heard the news.

"Tai, Kari," – Izzy spoke. – "Gennai says he found something. He says it's urgent."

"I'm in no rush." – Tai spoke passionlessly. He sat up and walked to the window. The sky remained tarnished by the smoke casting a gloomy temperance on the city. – "Have you seen the damage?"

Izzy casted his eyes on the floor. Before he got out of the house, he got a satellite image of the center of Tokyo. There was nothing left. The Royal family was dead and the Prime-Minister was severely wounded.

"We still don't have a count on all the dead and wounded, but they say casualties probably surpass 50,000,000 just on Asia. How are we supposed to go ear more bad news right away?"

Izzy didn't answer that. There was no point. Another pause followed.

"Did you hear XANA's broadcast before the Great Burn?" – Tai asked. Less than a day passed and the people already had a name to the horrifying catastrophe: Great Burn.

"Yeah. XANA probably wants to turn the whole world against digimon."

"But we know the truth." – Kari finally broke her silence. Her dream was to see humans and digimon at peace with each other. Izzy shook his head sadly.

"The people won't listen to us. I've heard anger riots on the way here. They're tired, resentful and angry. Angry at what has happened, at the government, at God, at everything. This thing of XANA putting the blame on the digimon is the perfect scapegoat. People will hate them because they're the best target."

"But we…"

"We can't do a thing, Kari, because if we do, we'll have a Second Great Burn." – Izz said the last part silently but sternly nonetheless. This caught their full attention. Izzy approached them and talked lowly:

"XANA sent Gennai and e-mail right before dying. It's his so called 'Last Will'." – Izzy said bitterly. – "He has three demands and if we don't follow them to the letter…"

"How can he know? He's dead! We don't have to do anything he says. Especially after _this_." – Tai growled pointing outside.

"Oh yes, we _have_." – Izzy retorted, urging Tai to keep his voice down. – "Tai, he targeted every capital of every nation with a 200 kt nuke and kept some more powerful ones to other major populated cities. However, other major populated cities were left unscratched."

"You recall when XANA activated a tower for just a short time, causing some quick earthquake all over the world?"

"Yeah." – Kari quirked an eyebrow. – "That was right after we saved Davis. But those earthquakes were just some called off attacks."

"Turns out they weren't." – Izzy took a deep breath, preparing to deliver the dreaded news. – "They were caused by digi-gates been opened underground. XANA has planted fusion bombs deep beneath non-bombed major populated cities, plus two under Paris and Tokyo. Unless we do as he said, even more millions of people will die and the blame will go to the digimon."

"No, we…" – Tai palled while Kari was left speechless.

"The bombs are connected to us. If we spill anything, they will go off."

Tai kicked a wall in pent up anger while Kari sat back down, hands covering her face. The older sibling took a deep breath before asking:

"You said there were three demands. What are the other two?"

"One of those is for the Sovereigns, it doesn't affect us directly. But the other… he says it's probably the hardest thing we'll ever have to do."

_In West Promenade, Odaiba…_

Cody and Yolei had followed Davis' signal on their D-3s to West Promenade. They found Davis on his knees, breathing but looking dead on the inside.

"Davis?"

They approached him but he refrained from moving, still. Cody touched his shoulder but he still refused to move.

"Come on Davis. Everything is gonna be ok." – Yolei said.

"Ok?" – Davis finally spoke, but in a tense tone. He turned his head around to look at her. – "You call THIS ok?"

He shouted spreading his arms to the destruction around. He got up and looked at the other two with a fire in his eyes they had never seen before. Pure, undiluted rage and hatred. The same eyes they had seen on many people on their way there.

"Davis, I'm sorry about Veemon." – Cody threaded carefully. – "But we need you."

"Yeah, where were you when Veemon needed help?" – he spat.

"Hey, it's not our fault!" – Yolei berated. – "We didn't bomb the world, for your information."

"Davis," – Cody took over to try and maintain peace. – "you're right to be angry. We can't imagine what you're going through. But we're a team…"

"Yeah, we _are_ a team. And maybe that was my problem, all along." – Davis spitefully took his D-3 from his pocket and tossed to the floor. The device broke apart and dissolved into data. – "Getting into this got my best friend killed. Veemon is dead, Natsumi is dead and my sister is in a wheelchair for the rest of her life!"

Cody and Yolei didn't even dare to ask how he learnt that. He then proceeded throwing away the goggles Tai gave him. One of the lenses broke as it impacted on the ground.

"I'm through with this! With you!" – with that, Davis turned his back and ran away.

_Later with Gennai…_

_Report of European cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes:_

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_Tirana (Albania) – 296,430 – 88,280_

_Andorra la Vella (Andora) - 45,470 - 17,470_

_Vienna (Austria) – 397,360 – 554,890_

_Minsk (Belarus) – 470,480 – 578,360_

_Brussels (Belgium) – 420,170 – 435,020_

_Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – 198,020 – 141,470_

_Sofia (Bulgaria) – 300,090 – 300,340_

_Zagreb (Croatia) – 291,260 – 244,730_

_Prague (Czech Republic) – 287,680 – 391,000_

_Copenhagen (Denmark) – 262,390 – 326,470_

_Tallinn (Estonia) – 119,600 – 135,850_

_Helsinki (Finland) – 92,760 – 180,770_

_Paris (France) – 1,144,960 – 1,827,950_

_Athens (Greece) – 500,080 – 983,000_

_Budapest (Hungary) - 308,670 - 566,030_

_Reykjavík (Iceland) - 97,780 - 47,830_

_Dublin (Ireland) - 227,310 - 359,030_

_Rome (Italy) - 524,350 - 791,880_

_Pristina (Kosovo) - 142,160 - 45,930_

_Riga (Latvia) - 242,170 - 250,920_

_Vaduz (Liechtenstein) – 21,860 - 31,070_

_Vilnius (Lithuania) - 286,240 - 155,870_

_Luxembourg (Luxembourg) - 83,560 - 47,130_

_Skopje (Macedonia) - 209,860 - 172,750_

_Valletta (Malta) - 110,680 - 126,410_

_Chișinău (Moldova) - 289,020 - 188,490_

_Monaco (Monaco) - 47,380 - 64,920_

_Podgorica (Montenegro) - 112,460 - 30,770_

_Amsterdam (Netherlands) - 346,650 - 321,940_

_Oslo (Norway) - 208,280 - 188,080_

_Warsaw (Poland) - 386,810 - 603,920_

_Lisbon (Portugal) - 253,070 - 492,470_

_Bucharest (Romania) - 541,210 - 633,160_

_San Marino (San Marino) - 19,940 - 22,690_

_Belgrade (Serbia) - 302,080 - 410,930_

_Bratislava (Slovakia) - 157,940 - 144,820_

_Ljubljana (Slovenia) - 159,170 - 86,400_

_Stockholm (Sweden) - 156,660 - 344,200_

_Bern (Switzerland) - 179,880 - 80,510_

_Kiev (Ukraine) - 261,900 - 779,410_

_Report of European cities struck by megaton nukes:_

_City (Yield) – Fatalities – Injured_

_Berlin (2 megatons) - 1,199,900 – 1,335,160_

_Madrid (4 megatons) – 2,439,010 – 1,435,570_

_London (4 megatons) - 2,651,990 – 3,196,630_

_Istanbul (5 megatons) - 4,255,640 – 3,608,370_

_Total European fatalities - injured:_ _21,050,380 – 22,768,890_

* * *

><p><span><em>Report of Asian cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes:<em>

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_Kabu (Afghanistan) - 1,365,810 – 1,197,290_

_Yerevan (Armenia) - 438,450 - 400,010_

_Baku (Azerbaijan) - 441,850 - 562,300_

_Manama (Bahrain) - 259,050 - 305,470_

_Thimphu (Bhutan) - 18,940 - 34,470_

_Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) - 115,300 - 66,500_

_Naypyidaw (Burma) - 34,800 - 113,050_

_Phnom Penh (Cambodia) - 764,830 - 464,440_

_Beijing (China) - 668,030 - 1,843,130_

_Nicosia (Cyprus) - 149,630 - 97,350_

_Dili (East Timor) - 137,530 - 45,720_

_Tbilisi (Georgia) - 345,900 - 298,900_

_New Delhi (India) - 1,472,830 - 3,447,250_

_Jerusalem (Israel) - 700,740 - 361,820_

_Tokyo (Japan) - 706,710 - 2,700,610_

_Amman (Jordan) - 503,860 - 845,190_

_Astana (Kazakhstan) - 236,920 - 194,330_

_Kuwait City (Kuwait) - 242,830 - 575,570_

_Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) – 302,150 – 329,670_

_Vientiane (Laos) - 249,310 - 142,910_

_Beirut (Lebanon) - 696,730 - 429,550_

_Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - 533,360 - 949,070_

_Malé (Maldives) - 121,440 - 10,300_

_Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) - 364,630 - 276,450_

_Kathmandu (Nepal) - 645,170 - 615,350_

_Muscat (Oman) - 110,550 - 92,360_

_Islamabad (Pakistan) - 456,900 - 1,104,030_

_Gaza (Palestine) - 572,360 - 225,520_

_Manila (Philippines) - 1,487,700 - 3,691,320_

_Doha (Qatar) - 317,070 - 327,710_

_Singapore (Singapore) - 390,850 - 1,085,000_

_Colombo (Sri Lanka) - 532,060 - 677,590_

_Damascus (Syria) - 1,135,680 - 914,220_

_Dushanbe (Tajikistan) - 378,500 - 334,260_

_Ankara (Turkey) - 605,880 - 1,049,560_

_Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) - 241,930 - 186,760_

_Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) - 372,230 - 171,040_

_Tashkent (Uzbekistan) - 476,680 - 870,590_

_Hanoi (Vietnam) - 1,265,500 - 946,360_

_Sana'a (Yemen) - 743,570 - 719,510_

_Report of Asian cities struck by megaton nukes:_

_City (Yield) – Fatalities – Injured_

_Moscow (4 megatons) - 3,358,470 - 4,260,940_

_Dhaka (2 megatons) – 5,874,060 – 3,735,030_

_Jakarta (2 megatons) – 3,614,310 - 5,830,110_

_Tehran (2 megatons) – 4,211,810 - 3,231,920_

_Baghdad (2 megatons) – 3,436,260 – 2,482,820_

_Pyongyang (3 megatons) – 2,161,100 – 789,800_

_Seoul (3 megatons) – 3,906,450 – 6,573,640_

_Riyadh (3 megatons) - 2,703,200 – 1,436,600_

_Bangkok (3 megatons) – 2,553,030 – 2,762,720_

_Ho Chi Minh city (2 megatons) – 4,553,820 – 2,078,260_

_Yangon (4 megatons) – 3,084,450 - 1,101,730_

_Karachi (4 megatons) – 6,908,560 - 3,818,430_

_Mumbai (4 megatons) – 7,302,860 – 5,861,660_

_Shanghai (50 megatons) – 11,903,080 – 4,571,040_

_Total Asian fatalities - injured__: 86,662,090 – 77,237,230_

* * *

><p><span><em>Report of African cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes:<em>

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_Bujumbura (Burundi) - 319,120 – 149,670_

_Moroni (Comoros) - 79,600 – 35,250_

_Djibouti (Djibouti) - 278,750 – 94,490_

_Asmara (Eritrea) – 687,590 – 158,490_

_Antananarivo (Madagascar) - 715,410 – 507,810_

_Lilongwe (Malawi) – 203,420 – 222,610_

_Port Louis (Mauritius) - 135,780 – 138,540_

_Maputo (Mozambique) – 698,970 – 390,680_

_Kigali (Rwanda) – 360,780 – 268,390_

_Victoria (Seychelles) – 31,520 – 15,310_

_Mogadishu (Somalia) – 615,860 – 310,970_

_Juba (South Sudan) – 163,900 – 58,220_

_Dodoma (Tanzania) – 203,020 – 32,310_

_Kampala (Uganda) – 738,100 – 771,040_

_Lusaka (Zambia) – 437,640 – 567,470_

_Harare (Zimbabwe) – 323,530 – 584,510_

_Luanda (Angola) – 987,700 – 823,270_

_Yaoundé (Cameroon) - 877,420 - 658,350_

_Bangui (Central African Republic) – 740,190 – 201,320_

_N'Djamena (Chad) – 601,470 – 344,960_

_Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) – 643,890 – 1,346,290_

_Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) - 112,480 – 6,940_

_Libreville (Gabon) – 409,230 – 148,790_

_São Tomé (São Tomé and Príncipe) - 84,330 – 19,140_

_Algiers (Algeria) – 633,920 – 670,100_

_Tripoli (Libya) – 296,970 – 346,900_

_Rabat (Morocco) – 455,760 – 583,550_

_Khartoum (Sudan) – 366,250 – 873,030_

_Tunis (Tunisia) – 306,650 – 505,750_

_Gaborone (Botswana) – 104,200 – 72,380_

_Maseru (Lesotho) – 229,030 – 62,690_

_Windhoek (Namibia) – 71,320 – 104,210_

_Cape Town (South Africa) – 189,080 – 404,030_

_Mbabane (Swaziland) – 103,360 – 21,840_

_Porto-Novo (Benin) – 316,860 – 156,590_

_Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) – 780,060 – 377,770_

_Praia (Cape Verde) – 92,190 – 21,850_

_Banjul (Gambia) – 45,350 – 136,280_

_Accra (Ghana) – 823,300 – 819,530_

_Conakry (Guinea) – 455,750 – 389,170_

_Bissau (Guinea-Bissau) – 286,280 – 80,350_

_Monrovia (Liberia) – 376,350 – 297,790_

_Bamako (Mali) – 396,050 – 546,290_

_Nouakchott (Mauritania) – 446,990 – 191,400_

_Niamey (Niger) – 808,860 – 314,250_

_Abuja (Nigeria) – 346,550 – 247,290_

_Dakar (Senegal) – 460,750 – 775,130_

_Freetown (Sierra Leone) – 589,380 – 221,540_

_Lomé (Togo) – 508,220 – 349,410_

_Report of African cities struck by megaton nukes:_

_City (Yield) – Fatalities – Injured_

_Addis Ababa (4 megatons) – 3,077,830 – 607,420_

_Nairobi (4 megatons) – 2,239,650 – 1,220,270_

_Kinshasa (4 megatons) – 5,953,660 – 2,048,360_

_Cairo (4 megatons) – 7,704,050 – 4,891,060_

_Abidjan (4 megatons) – 3,041,360 – 865,260_

_Casablanca (7 megatons) – 2,078,050 – 1,097,150_

_Lagos (7 megatons) – 1,612,140 – 3,408,420_

_Total African fatalities - injured__: 46,362,320 – 30,594,190_

* * *

><p><span><em>Report of North American cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes:<em>

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_Ottawa (Canada) – 150,760 - 254,410_

_Washington, D.C. (USA) – 408,990 - 483,420_

_St. John's (Antigua and Barbuda) – 38,930 – 18,560_

_Nassau (Bahamas) – 133,700 – 49,240_

_Bridgetown (Barbados) – 89,670 – 64,870_

_Havana (Cuba) – 547,160 – 656,590_

_Roseau (Dominica) – 21,370 – 8,330_

_Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) – 638,950 – 941,660_

_St. George's (Grenada) – 30,860 – 11,950_

_Port-au-Prince (Haiti) – 886,600 – 760,310_

_Kingston (Jamaica) – 287,980 – 280,940_

_Basseterre (Saint Kitts and Nevis) – 16,700 – 4,980_

_Castries (Saint Lucia) – 57,860 – 13,890_

_Kingstown (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) – 35,610 – 14,600_

_Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) – 99,480 – 103,580_

_Belmopan (Belize) –16,290 – 2,210_

_San José (Costa Rica) – 457,470 – 543,010_

_San Salvador (El Salvador) – 359,720 – 510,110_

_Guatemala City (Guatemala) – 481,410 – 809,020_

_Tegucigalpa (Honduras) – 649,460 – 296,430_

_Managua (Nicaragua) – 466,270 – 342,510_

_Panama City (Panama) – 340,780 – 285,750_

_Report of North American cities struck by megaton nukes:_

_City (Yield) – Fatalities – Injured_

_New York (15 megatons) – 6,067,190 – 4,658,000_

_Mexico City (2 megatons) – 2,800,130 – 5,849,310_

_Total North American fatalities - injured__: 15,083,340 – 16,963,680_

* * *

><p><span><em>Report of South American cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes<em>_:_

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_La Paz (Bolivia) – 754,760 – 520,690_

_Brasília (Brazil) – 398,870 – 453,530_

_Quito (Ecuador) – 797,230 – 792,140_

_Georgetown (Guyana) – 183,230 – 61,670_

_Asunción (Paraguay) – 347,330 – 392,530_

_Paramaribo (Suriname) – 123,360 – 118,070_

_Montevideo (Uruguay) – 366,150 – 457,280_

_Caracas (Venezuela) – 887,970 – 987,810_

_Report of South American cities struck by megaton nukes:_

_City (Yield) – Fatalities – Injured_

_Buenos Aires (2 megatons) – 2,605,490 – 3,338,400_

_Santiago (2 megatons) – 1,960,150 – 2,105,710_

_Bogotá (2 megatons) – 3,581,320 – 2,502,370_

_Lima (3 megatons) – 5,132,700 – 2,338,540_

_Sao Paulo (4 megatons) – 4,685,710 – 6,784,400_

_Total South American fatalities - injured__: 21,824,270 – 20,853,140_

* * *

><p><span><em>Report of Australian cities struck by 200-kiloton nukes:<em>

_Capital (Nation) – Fatalities - Injured_

_Canberra (Australia) – 34,560 – 84,480_

_Wellington (New Zealand) – 67,540 – 58,250_

_Suva (Fiji) – 75,580 – 36,780_

_Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) – 156,970 – 72,800_

_Honiara (Solomon Islands) – 45,840 – 20,900_

_Port Vila (Vanuatu) – 15,430 – 8,440_

_Palikir (Federated States of Micronesia) – 1,750 – 7,650_

_Majuro (Marshall Islands) – 10,180 – 6,070_

_Yaren (Nauru) – 5,890 – 2,250_

_Apia (Samoa) – 30,810 – 22,760_

_Nuku__ʻ__alofa (Tonga) –37,570 – 10,350_

_Total Australian fatalities - injured__: 482,120 – 330,730_

_**Grand Total World fatalities – injured**__: 191,464,520 – 168,747,860_

The digital man took his eyes from the report. Most of those numbers were just estimates but of good accuracy. The Digidestined in Tokyo were connected via web-cam in Yolei's house. All minus Davis, Yumi and TK. Jeremie was still resting while the Lyoko Team was in Aelita's dorm since the supercomputer was destroyed. But the most mist presences were Matt and Sora. Gennai stood in the castle and gave a long, deep sigh:

"As you know, XANA's first demand is to never reveal the truth about the Great Burn." – the name given to the catastrophe was already very popular in the media. – "The second if for the Sovereigns. XANA wanted them to erase the Cycle of Destiny."

"_The Cycle of Destiny?_" – Cody asked.

"It's a program. It chooses children worthy of being Digidestined and gave them the digi-eggs of their would-be partners. The point of this program was to keep the number constant. Azulongmon de-activated it temporarily when he noticed the number of children was decreasing drastically." – Gennai explained. – "While the Sovereigns command the program, we created it after you kids defeated Apocalymon. I was hoping it could be the key to find new Digidestined after XANA was defeated. But now…"

"_Wait_." – Aelita stopped him mid-sentence. – "_If that program is erased, then…_"

"_Then the cycle is over_." – Kari finished, eyes wide. – "_We're…the last digidestined!_"

"Precisely." – Gennai's response was flat and passionless. It was hard to imagine the _real _bad news weren't even delivered.

"_But we can stop this, right_?" – Ulrich said. – "_If we find those bombs, can't we defuse them? Or transport them away?_"

"_Yeah, and we'll help you guys_." – Gaomon supported. Gennai winced at that, which many of them noticed:

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. My equipment can't track anything on Earth if it's underground. The only thing that could do it would be the supercomputer, but it's gone now." – Gennai felt a lump on his throat. – "Even so, your digimon cannot help you."

"_Why is that? Just because now Earth is the HQ of I-Hate-Digimon fan club, people don't know much about them. We can hide them._" – Odd replied.

"Because the third demand is for the gate between Earth and the Digital World to be forever closed and your digimon and digivices to remain with us."

Silent, horrified stares met that revelation. The dots were connected now. No truth to be revealed, no new digidestined and no more _old_ digidestined. XANA's last will was to divide the two worlds permanently, all this to spite the ones who caused his demise.

"In twelve hours, the bombs will go into effect. If just one of these conditions isn't fulfilled, the bombs will detonate. And after what has happened I don't think Humanity would survive it."– Gennai spoke sadly. – "I'm sorry, everyone."

The prophecy was right; it was inevitable. _For the impending doom can stop not be. While one dark night will be over, a new darker one will the sun cover._

This _really_ was the end of Age of the Digidestined.

"The Sovereigns will do their part, for the sake of your world." – Gennai knew they didn't have a choice, as the Digidestined didn't either.

_A few hours later, back on Tokyo…_

"_Citizens of Tokyo!_" – the Japanese Prime Minister was addressing the people on TV. – "_We faced and survived the rain of fire. We have been gravely injured, in body and soul. But we remain unbroken."_

"_While the night of fire, pain and death is over, a new struggle now begins. The fight to rebuild our city and our spirit…_"

Tai stopped listening to the man's speech and focused more on what he saw. He and Agumon stood at the top of a building in Odaiba, looking to the destruction on the other side of the river. Chiyoda and Chūō were completely wiped out by the shockwave, as had the surrounding parts of Shinjuku, Minato and Bunkyo. The center of Tokyo, once filled with skyscrapers was flattened, building crushed into debris and streets blocked by layers of cars and more debris.

"He's already stirring up waves." – Agumon commented when he heard the man mentioning 'digimon'.

"Over 700 thousand died and over 2 million were injured just in Tokyo. Getting the people all riled up is no challenge now." – Tai said bitterly.

"Well… at least that scar looks good on you." – Agumon made a shy smile, feeling compelled to say something to lighten up his partner. The gloom look Tai gave him killed Agumon's intention.

"You know, our apartment has a direct view to Chūō." – he said pointing at the destroyed district. – "How am I supposed to cheer up when every day I'll have to look out at all of that?"

"You could always board up the window." – Agumon made another try to be met with failure.

"Give it up, Agumon. Nothing you'll say can change _this_." – he nodded his head to the destroyed metropolis. Despite his family been safe and his mother been recovering quickly, he was still depressed. And Agumon could feel it wasn't just because they would soon be separated for good.

"You know Agumon. I always thought we could do anything if he just believed we could and never gave up. But after seeing this…I can see everything going dark. For all of us."

_At the end of that day…_

The farewells had been mostly done. Now the whole group of Japanese Digidestined, minus Matt, Sora and Davis. Tai had asked Davis to come but the former gogglehead said he had no one to say goodbye to. The team was now at the abandoned summer camp where it all began.

"So, this is it." – Mimi's teary eyes looked down to Palmon. – "Second time we have to say goodbye."

"Last time you gave me your hat." – Palmon smiled, with wet eyes too.

"But you still have it." – the girl recalled a few days earlier when the two went out and Palmon brought the cowboy hat on.

Joe and Gomamon were somewhere else close by the river. Kari and Gatomon were with Patamon trying to console TK. Cody, Armadillomon, Yolei and Hawkmon were with Izzy and Tentomon. Tai and Agumon were mostly separated from the rest of the group.

The Digidestined in France were going through the same farewell ritual. Aelita was in the worst state. Not only would she be saying goodbye to Lunamon but also to her father. With the Supercomputer destroyed, Franz Hopper can't be re-materialized. Hence, he's bound to the Digital World for good.

Soon enough Gennai's message came in and Kari opened a Digital gate via Izzy's laptop. The vortex was opened and the digimon gave one last look to their human friends they would surely miss.

…

…

…

And just like that, it was over. The digimon were gone back to their world. The portals between Earth and the Digital World were sealed tight for good. The former Digidestined all looked at the spot where the portal had flashed with empty glares.

Tai gave a look to everyone else. Davis had been filling his shoes over time as the junior Digidestined did most of the work. While Davis was under XANA's clutches, TK took over and then Kari.

But now Davis was gone, TK was desolated and Kari seemed lost. The responsibility fell on his shoulders again. It was strange, though. To leave a responsibility to someone else only to have to take it back, later.

"_We won't give up._" – Tai thought to himself. – "_We will find XANA's legacy, destroy it and join the two worlds again. Even if it takes the rest of our lives to do it."_

Later, the 14 ex-Digidestined made that same promise, to themselves and each other. They would heal the wounds to humanity's soul and mend the bridge between Earth and the Digital World.

But they were destined to fail…

_Tokyo, Imperial Palace, Year 2090 AD/ 88 PC_

Cody, lying on his death bed, stirred and opened his tired eyes. Crown Prince Masaru Hida approached his father and grabbed his hand. Masaru spoke to him but Cody couldn't speak back. He was too debilitated. His time had finally run out.

"_Armadillomon…everyone, I'm sorry I failed."_ – he spoke in his thoughts with regret. – "_We promised we would never give up…but we still failed in saving our world from the darkness in our people's hearts."_

"_There wasn't enough time."_

And with that, the last Digidestined took his last breath.

THE END

**THE SAGA IS FINALLY OVER. FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T LIKE THE ENDING, DON'T FLAME ME. NOT EVERYONE GETS A HAPPY ENDING, I KNOW THAT VERY WELL. HOWEVER, I HAVE A SPIN-OFF OF THIS FICT AND I MIGHT HAVE ANOTHER ONE READY.**

**BUT THIS STORY IS OVER. THE DIGIDESTINED ARE NO MORE AND A WAR BETWEEN HUMANS AND DIGIMON MAY YET HAPPEN IF THE HUMANS LEARN HOW TO BREAK THROUGH THE DOOR.**

**THE SCENES OF GOODBYE BETWEEN HUMANS AND DIGIMON WERE SHORT AND KINDA LAME. BUT I JUST DON'T GOT THE TIME TO WRITE ANYTHING MORE.**


End file.
